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NANCY 

THE DOCTOR’S LITTLE PARTNER 


WORKS OF 

MARION AMES TAGGART 


-» 69 «- 

The Doctor’s Little Girl Series 

Each, 1 volume, large 12mo, cloth, illustrated, $1.50 

THE DOCTOR’S LITTLE GIRL 

SWEET NANCY: OR, MORE ABOUT 
THE DOCTOR’S LITTLE GIRL 

NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S LITTLE 
PARTNER 

PUSSY-CAT TOWN $1.00 

-• 88 *- 

L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY 
53 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. 





























































































































































































NANCY PORTER 





Copyright , iqn 
By L. C. Page & Company 

(Incorporated) 

Entered at Stationers’ Hall, London 
All rights reserved 


First Impression, June, 1911 


Electrotyped and Printed by 
THE COLONIAL PRESS 
C. H . Sitnonds Co., Boston , U.S. A. 




5CI.A292531 


Hot a 0torm (Sootell 

THIS STORY OF ANOTHER DEAR LITTLE GIRL 
IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED 


i 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I. A May -day Morning .... i 
II. “ Standing with Reluctant Feet ” . 18 

III. A Morning Drive 35 

IV. “ The Coggses ” 52 

V. From over Seas 69 

VI. The Ladies of the Lake .... 86 

VII. Nancy’s Coming - out Party . . .103 

VIII. Kind Hearts and Coronets . . .120 

IX. “ The Warm Elastic Porter House ” . 137 

X. Purple and Fine Linen . . . .153 

XI. Coming Events 170 

XII. An (Ab)original Plan . . . .187 

XIII. Indian Givers 201 

XIV. Sewing and Sowing 218 

XV. Reaping 234 

XVI. The Pageant 249 

XVII. The Secret of the Moonstone Ball . 266 




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


Nancy Porter Frontispiece ^ 

44 SO THEY STARTED OFF AS HAPPILY AS POSSIBLE ” . 38 ^ 

“ 4 We saw you coming,’ said one of the girls ” 59 ^ 

Daisy Coggs 92 ^ 

“ 4 It is good to see a little girl,’ she said ” . 133 ^ 

44 Nancy recounted her adventures from the 

BEGINNING TO THE END ” 1 76 

44 4 Lie still,’ said Nancy gently ” . . . 222 ^ 

44 A LITTLE FIGURE IN MOCCASINS AND WOOD- 

. 26l ^ 


COLOURED TUNIC 



NANCY 

THE DOCTOR’S LITTLE PARTNER 



CHAPTER I 

A MAY - DAY MORNING 

AME TROT ! ” called Doctor Porter 
at the foot of the stairs. 

‘'Doctor Porter!” quickly re- 
sponded his one little girl in her sweet 
voice. In an instant her face ap- 
peared, smiling down at her father from over the 
bannisters. 

“ Pm going over to the Falls to see Doctor Gan- 
son. Didn’t I hear you saying you wanted to call 
on Cord? I’ll leave you there, if you like,” the 
doctor said. 

“ Oh, yes, I do — do want to see Cord and do 
like,” cried Nancy. “ I’ll be right down, dear.” 

Mrs. Porter came across the hall from her own 
room to Nancy’s. 


1 



2 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ I heard your father say he would take you to 
see Cord,” Nancy’s mother said. “ Will you leave 
this package with Lydia Slocum ? It’s the soft 
wrap I’ve been making for her.” 

Nancy looked at her mother in the glass and 
laughed. “ It’s one of the nicest things about being 
Nancy Porter that you have so many things always 
ready to send by me to people; I’m sure of being 
welcome,” she said. 

Mrs. Porter come up behind Nancy and put her 
hands on her shoulders; the mother’s calm, true 
eyes looked lovingly into Nancy’s gray-blue ones, 
both by their reflection in the glass. Nancy had 
grown much taller within a year; the dark hair 
that had been cut short when she had nearly died of 
scarlet fever had grown long and thick, there was 
a suggestion of colour under the surface of her pale 
ivory-tinted skin; altogether she looked stronger, 
now that she was “ half past twelve ” than she had 
looked when she was younger. Doctor Mark Por- 
ter and his wife rejoiced to see their one treasure 
tightening her hold on life as she advanced farther 
into it. 

Nancy’s reflection smiled at her mother, as her 
mother’s smiled at her. 

“ As long as you go about with your father on 


A MAY -DAY MORNING 


3 

visits that are, so many of them, errands of mercy, 
you don’t need your frumpy old mother to give you 
packages to insure you a welcome,” said Mrs. 
Porter. 

“ I wonder what I shall ever do to be liked for 
myself! ” cried Nancy, wheeling around with' a final 
twitch of her hair ribbon. “ I’ll never be anything 
but the Doctor’s little girl in Chagford. I’m sure 
all my life I’ll hear people saying : 4 Oh, Nancy 
Porter’s well enough, but she can’t hold a candle 
to her father and mother ! ’ It’s going to be dread- 
ful!” 

44 Perhaps by that time Chagford will have so 
many electric lights you won’t be required to hold 
a candle,” suggested Mrs. Porter. 44 Run along, 
silly Nancy; I hear Tonic’s footsteps.” 

Nancy gave her mother a swift kiss and ran out 
of the room, down the stairs and out of the door. 
Her father was waiting at the foot of the steps 
in the low buggy which he had used for half of 
Nancy’s life, in all sorts of weather, but which 
he could not be persuaded to give up. Faithful 
Tonic, the brown horse who was one of the fam- 
ily, older by several years than Nancy, turned 
his head to make sure that the little girl was 
coming. Tonic seemed to understand that the 


4 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

doctor needed “ his assistant ” when he started 
out. 

“ ‘ Oh, that we two were Maying,’ Nancy,” 
quoted the doctor, as Nancy got in and settled her- 
self at her father’s side. He reached over and 
tucked the light weight lap robe around her in or- 
der to look inquiringly into her face. 

“ It’s such a perfect morning, Toodles ; don’t you 
wish we were going Maying? ” 

“ What do you suppose Letty Hetty told me 
yesterday when I was wishing?” asked Nancy. 
“ She said to be wishing, instead of enjoying 
what you had, was like a cribbing horse, that 
chewed away on posts and fences instead of stick- 
ing to his good oats, imagining there was some- 
thing better than he had, and all he made out was 
suckin’ wind and dyin’ of colic, most likely, Letty 
Hetty said.” Nancy quoted the last words in exact 
imitation of the voice and accent of the Porters’ 
factotum, good Letty Hetty, who had presided over 
the house and the housework since before Nancy 
came into the world. 

Doctor Porter laughed. “ That sounds like Letty 
Hetty and is good doctrine, though it seems rather 
hard on me, considering I was wishing. Do you 
intend it as a rebuke, Miss ? ” he asked. 


A MAY -DAY MORNING 


5 


Nancy shook her head hard. “ I’m glad you 
want to go Maying — with me ! ” she said. “ But 
it is a lovely morning for a drive, even a little 
drive, like this one to the .Slocums’.” 

“ ‘ I am content with what I have, little be it or 
much,’ ” the doctor quoted again. “ Right you are, 
little Assistant! Do you know why I am going 
to see Doctor Ganson ? ” 

“ About the hospital? ” guessed Nancy promptly. 

“ Just that. The long-standing opinion that we 
need a hospital in Chagford, one for all the Chag- 
fords, North Chagford and Chagford Falls in- 
cluded, seems to be fermenting. We doctors, 
Davidson, Ganson and Porter, think if we started 
the thing in earnest the public would earnestly help. 
I’m going over to see my brother in the profession 
to discuss making a definite move in the matter,” 
the doctor explained, after his fashion of talking 
over his plans and his patients with this one beloved 
little daughter, whom he called and tried to make 
“ his assistant.” 

“ We could help a good deal ourselves,” remarked 
Nancy thoughtfully. 

“ I shall expect you to do wonders if a fair is 
held, which is the best plan we can think of now/’ 
said the doctor. 


6 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ I meant — aren’t we rather rich, father?” 
asked Nancy. “ You know on that wonderful day 
when that man you used to know came, when you 
were away, and left with me all that money, to 
pay you back the loan you made him when he was 
young, with its interest, I thought fifty thousand 
dollars was an immense fortune. But it doesn’t 
seem to have made much difference.” 

“ Oh, dear me, yes, it has, Nancy,” said the 
doctor quickly. “ It gives us twenty-five hundred 
dollars to spend that does not come from my 
practice. Have you forgotten how many pleasant 
things we have been able to afford this past year 
and more, since that happened? Trips to Boston, 
music, even jewels!” The doctor touched one of 
Nancy’s slender fingers that wore a circle of sap- 
phires. 

“ I believe mother is right when she says it makes 
you able to afford not to send in as many bills as 
you did — and you never sent in many ! ” laughed 
Nancy, with an accusing shake of the coat sleeve 
nearest to her. 

The doctor looked guilty. “ There are so many 
people in Chagford to whom a bill is a real mis- 
fortune,” he said apologetically. 

“ Dearest Doctor-daddy, I don’t blame you for 


A MAY -DAY MORNING 7 

not sending them, but you work hard to cure the 
people ; the bills are really less than your just dues/’ 
said Nancy, who had grown old enough to keep 
her father’s books, so knew whereof she spoke. Her 
eyes were full of the tenderest love and pride as she 
looked at him; she worshipped this great-hearted 
doctor whose service to his community was like that 
of a faithful shepherd to his flock, and who hated 
the money side of his reward. 

“Wouldn’t you rather spell it the other way?” 
asked Doctor Porter. “ ‘ The quality of mercy is 
not strain’d, it droppeth as the gentle rain from 
heaven.’ I’d rather it were that sort of dews, 
daughterkin.” 

Nancy had been brought up in the companionship 
of drives with her father in which he had made 
her familiar with the poets, Shakespeare and the 
lesser ones, and had taught her the ripeness of his 
own kindly wisdom. So, too, she had spent her 
mornings doing lessons with her mother, that rare 
and noble woman, so that the doctor’s little girl had 
been fortunate in a singular education that far ex- 
ceeded, in the highest values, anything that the 
best schools could give her. 

She raised her sweet, earnest little face to her 
father now, with the love in her eyes that was the 


8 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


doctor’s dearest recompense for all his well-lived 
life. 

“ I’d rather it were, you dearest Doctor Mark 
Porter, and I’d rather you’d rather it were,” she 
said. 

“ I forgot to ask where Rick was,” said the doc- 
tor unexpectedly, having given Nancy a comrade- 
ship pat on her shoulder. 

“ Rick went down to the music store to see if he 
could get a new A string for his violin, and they 
were going to get new violin music; he was going 
to look at that, too,” said Nancy. “ Afterward he 
is coming up to the Slocums to see Miss Lydia as 
usual; he will be there to go home with us — or 
aren’t you going to fetch me ? Shall I walk 
home? ” 

“ Perhaps you’d better not wait for me, Dame 
Trot. I may be detained longer than you will care 
to stay. Here we are,” added the doctor, stopping 
Tonic at the gate of the Slocum house, and turning 
the wheel for Nancy to get out. 

Nancy hopped out, and then gravely put out her 
hand to shake the doctor’s before she left him. Then 
she patted Tonic’s nose and gave him a handful of 
young grass. This done, the doctor pulled up 
the reins and the old horse trotted sedately away, 


A MAY -DAY MORNING 9 

leaving Nancy to turn her attention to the 
house. 

Nothing had altered since the day, two years be- 
fore, when the doctor had driven his little girl there 
to see the lame boy whom the Slocum sisters had 
taken into their home, the friendless child who 
would otherwise have depended upon the charity 
of the town. Nevertheless he had in his veins the 
blood of one of Chagford’s oldest families, the 
Loverings, on one side, and gentle Italian blood 
on the other. Since then the elder of the two elderly 
sisters, Lydia Slocum, had been crippled by a fall 
and was bedridden, while Richard Lovering, en- 
tirely cured of his lameness, had spent more than 
a year in the doctor’s family, where he was beloved 
almost like a son of the house. And the elfish little 
Cordelia Tilden, called Cord by every one, who had 
no one on earth belonging to her, had come to live 
with the Slocums because, though she was two 
years younger than Nancy, she was competent to 
help the Slocums, and they required help since 
Lydia had been crippled. It was a case of mutual 
need, and the arrangement had worked perfectly. 
Cord was a character, a changeling, the doctor de- 
clared, the funniest, quickest, most snappingly 
efficient little thing imaginable, tolerant of Nancy’s 


10 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


two friends, Miriam Hunt and Doris Clark, who, 
with Nancy, had constituted themselves her guard- 
ians, but adoring Nancy, who could manage her 
when no one else could. 

Cord had seen Nancy coming now, and had the 
door open, and was down the walk to meet her in 
a flash. 

“ Hallo, you Chocolate Cream ! ” Cord cried, 
rushing at Nancy tempestuously. She was not 
much taller in her eleventh year than she had been 
at nine, a tiny, dark creature, whose growth seemed 
to take the form of concentration, as if it were that 
of a fire getting stronger all the time in a little 
dark brazier. 

“ Hallo, Cordie,” echoed Nancy, receiving the on- 
slaught of Cord’s welcome unsteadily. 

“ Any news ? ” 

“ Mercy gave me a dress,” said Cord with a 
twinkle in her black eyes, as she turned them comic- 
ally on Nancy without turning her head. Cord 
never could be got to say Miss Lydia or Miss Mercy 
to the elderly women with whom she lived. She 
availed herself to the full of the country freedom 
from ceremony. “ What’s the use ? ” was her one 
reply to persuasion on this head. 

“ That’s good ! ” said Nancy. 


A MAY -DAY MORNING 11 

“ Sure,” agreed Cord. “ It’s purple with a white 
spot; I’m going to try to swap it.” 

“ Cordie, you mustn’t!” cried Nancy, but she 
had to laugh. 

“ Watch me,” said Cord decidedly. “ I’m not 
going to wear purple ; now wouldn’t I look great in 
it? I know a coon lady over to Chagford Falls 
that’ll love it. I’m going to make her buy a pink 
gingham and take my purple calico — she’ll do it, 
and Mercy won’t care. I’ll tell her how the coon 
lady loved purple, and I loved pink, and she’ll just 
be glad two people are pleased. Mercy’s awful 
easy-going; she don’t care a cent, and Lydia lets 
me do as I want to — I know why ! ” 

“ Cordie, you look scampish ; when you look like 
that I know you mean something you shouldn’t! 
Why does Miss Lydia let you do as you like? ” de- 
manded Nancy, who felt responsible for the train- 
ing of this younger child, since she and Mimi and 
Doris had constituted themselves her guardians, but 
who found the task weighty. 

“ Because it makes her fidget to have Mercy 
tidy up her room, and I don’t do it unless I’m 
friendly with her,” said Cord. 

“Cordelia! You ought to do it all the time,” 
said Nancy sternly. 


12 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ I do, now, ’cause Lydia never scolds at me. I 
had to make her pleasant, Nancy; it’s just as good 
for her. Don’t you look so sober at me, you Nancy- 
Chocolate-Cream-Strawberry-Sundae ! You’re not 
used to man’ging things, like I am.” Cord wound 
her thin arm about Nancy coaxingly, and Nancy 
gave up the argument, as she often did, with in- 
ward twinges of conscience lest she neglected her 
duty. But this sharp little creature, used from her 
cradle to taking care of herself, had much more 
worldly wisdom than Nancy, older though she 
was and knowing book lore that would never be 
Cord’s. 

“ I came to tell you that we’ve got to have a 
ceremony for Doris,” said Nancy dropping the sub- 
ject. “ We are going to have a meeting to-morrow 
afternoon, and you’re invited.” 

“Where? What for?” asked Cord. The two 
girls had stopped on the stone walk to talk. 

“ Well, you’ve heard how mamma got Doris’ 
aunt to let her keep on playing with the dolls,” said 
Nancy. “ Miss Clark thought Doris was too big, 
and that was ever so long ago. An aunt isn’t like a 
mother, or anyway Doris’ aunt isn’t. You know 
we dressed Mildred, and gave her to you, and Miss 
Clark only let Doris keep on with Leonora, her doll, 


A MAY -DAY MORNING 


13 


because mamma made her see it was good for Doris 
to dress a doll to give away, taught her to sew and 
be kind, both. But now Miss Clark insists on Doris’ 
giving away her doll to a mission box, and Doris 
can’t stand that. So we’re going to have a meeting 
to-morrow and solemnly give up dolls — Mimi, 
Doris and I. We’re going to put my Rosamond 
and Doris’ Leonora and Mimi’s Dorothy together 
up in my attic, and mamma’s going to coax Miss 
Clark to let Doris leave her there, not send her off 
to the mission, because that would be harder — to 
know somebody else played with her.” 

“ I’ll come to your meeting,” said Cord violently, 
“ but you don’t catch me giving up Mildred, not 
one bit ! ” 

“ Mercy, no, Cordie, you’re younger than we are ; 
it wouldn’t be sensible. Besides, we’re planning to 
make lots of clothes for Mildred after we give up 
our dolls, and then we shall mind it less — Mil- 
dred’s just like ours, you know, same size and 
everything,” said Nancy mournfully. 

“ Nancy, what on earth makes you give up dolls 
when you don’t want to ? ” demanded Cord. “ I 
sh’d think Doris’ aunt’d be ’shamed, meddling in 
like that — so silly ! ” 

“ We want to, Cordie,” said Nancy. “ That is. 


14 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


it makes us feel solemn and sad to take the step, 
making it clear that we really give them up, because 
we love them, but we don’t enjoy them when we 
try to play with them. Every time we get them 
out, Mimi and Doris, and I, we don’t play; we just 
sit around and hold them, and move their arms and 
legs into cute positions, and try on their clothes, but 
it ends in our just sitting around and talking. 
We’re in our thirteenth year, you know; I shall be 
thirteen next October, and I suppose we can’t enjoy 
dolls the same as we did. But it’s rather sad giving 
them up — it’s just as sad trying to enjoy them, if 
you think about it, though. Anyway, we’re going 
to have a ceremony to-morrow afternoon, and you’re 
asked.” 

“ I’ll be there,” said Cord laconically. “ Rick’s 
inside; you’d better come in.” 

Nancy went in. On the bed, to which she was 
now perpetually confined and which had been moved 
into the sitting-room that she might be in the middle 
of what life came her way, lay Lydia Slocum. 
Patience had been hard to her, naturally impatient 
and active, “ cross,” her neighbours had said. But 
she had acquired the virtue to a great extent, and 
it had improved her. Her face was gentler, her 
voice less strident. 


A MAY -DAY MORNING 


15 


Beside her sat Rick. He had grown tall and 
slender; health and happiness had made his beau- 
tiful face more boyish. Lydia Slocum kept her 
eyes upon him constantly. The queer Slocum sisters 
had grown fond of the boy while he had lived with 
them; he had brought gentleness and the love for 
a child into their lives when he had come to them, 
frail, lame and friendless. Now his almost daily 
visits were the keenest pleasure the bedridden sister 
had, and Rick was faithful in keeping her in touch 
with his pleasures and interests. 

“ Well, Nancy Porter/’ said Miss Lydia pleas- 
antly, “ there isn’t one thing left for you to tell me ! 
This boy has told it all, an’ livin’ in the same house 
with you, he hasn’t left you a syllable. All the same 
I’m glad you dropped in.” 

“ I’ve got to drop right out again, Miss Lydia,” 
laughed Nancy. “ Father isn’t going to call for 
me; he’s afraid he may be kept over to the Falls 
too long.” 

“ What’s he gone there for? ” asked Lydia. 

“ There is something Rick didn’t tell then ! ” 
cried Nancy. “ It looks as though we were going 
to have the Chagford Hospital, Miss Lydia. 
Father has gone now to see Doctor Ganson about 
it. He says he thinks that everybody is ready for 


16 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


it, and they can begin it soon. Had Rick told you 
that?” 

“ No, but it’s good news,” said Miss Lydia. “ I’ll 
tell you what it is, bein’ crippled makes you think 
more’n you might have about givin’ others a chance 
not to be where you are. Must you really go right 
along, Nancy? Well, come again when you can sit 
a spell. I’d like you should come with Mimi Hunt 
an’ Doris Clark, an’ Rick bring his fiddle an’ sing 
to me. I enjoy music more’n I did when I was up 
an’ ’round.” 

“ We’ll come, Miss Lydia,” said Nancy. “ And 
may Cord come to see me to-morrow afternoon, 
please? ” 

“ Nothin’ to prevent. I’m always too thankful 
to have that flyaway child go to your house,” said 
Miss Lydia. 

“ Now, Lydia, you know you think I’m just about 
right; what’d you do without me?” cried Cord 
whisking close to Miss Lydia and instantly whisk- 
ing away again. 

“ I’d show you what I’d do with you, if I was on 
my feet ! ” Miss Lydia pretended to growl, but 
Nancy and Rick saw with pleasure that she looked 
affectionately at the queer mite. 

Rick and Nancy walked slowly home together, 


A MAY -DAY MORNING 


17 


talking as fast as they could. Nancy rejoiced in 
Rick, wondering how her own brother, had she one, 
could be any dearer to her than this boy. She knew 
from experience of Mimi’s older brother that own 
brothers were sometimes less kind. Rick under- 
stood Nancy’s every thought and feeling; they 
were both citizens of the beautiful Land of Make- 
Believe, in which they spent their happiest hours 
together. 

In the year which he had passed in the doctor’s 
household Rick had shared Nancy’s privilege of 
hearing read aloud the best treasures of the English 
tongue, and he had grown in mind, as he had in 
body, delighting in the home atmosphere for which 
nature had especially fitted the gifted, sensitive lad. 

Letty Hetty saw the children coming, and went 
out to meet them. 

“ I was wonderin’ how much longer you’d be,” 
she said. “ I didn’t know whether to look for you 
in the buggy along the road, or walkin’ on the side- 
walk. I’m glad you’ve got here. I’m goin’ to 
make shortcake for supper an’ I’d like somebody to 
hull the berries.” 

But both Rick and Nancy knew that the real 
reason that Letty Hetty was glad to see them, was 
merely that she was glad to see them! 


CHAPTER II 


STANDING WITH RELUCTANT FEET 



HE upper floor of Doctor Porter’s 
barn was not only as clean as a 
parlour, but it was fragrant as only 
a tidy barn can be; bran and oats 
added their wholesome smell to the 
clean, dry odour of straw and the 
sweetness of clover and timothy. Nancy loved the 
place ; she and Rick had established their “ studios ” 
in an empty corner near the big window, through 
which hay was hauled up in July. This window 
had a wooden door that slid back and let in a wide 
piece of scenery, the hills that surrounded Chagford, 
with a glimpse of the river and a little gleam of the 
pond — now promoted to be called a lake — which 
lay up in the direction of the great stone Allaire 
house, where Miss Dorinda and Miss Belinda Al- 
laire lived, two of Nancy’s best friends. 

Nancy, who had secretly “ commenced author,” 
as our English cousins say, had a desk made of a 
18 


“ WITH RELUCTANT FEET” 


19 


soap box in this corner of the barn, in which she 
kept the verses she wrote and the first chapters of 
her first novel — so far they seemed in a fair way 
to be also its last chapters. Nancy wrote on the top 
of this box, seated on the hay-strewn floor. Rick, 
whose violin playing was remarkable for a little boy, 
had “ a music studio ” close to Nancy’s desk, but 
more in the middle of the big bay window, which, 
when it was open, let him look off to the beauty be- 
yond, inspiring him to melody of his own. Rick’s 
Italian grandmother must have accounted for his 
music; it could not have come to him through his 
New England Lovering ancestors. 

Here, iii the barn chamber, the following after- 
noon, Mimi Hunt, Doris Clark and Cordelia Tilden 
came solemnly to bid farewell to their youth, or 
rather to Mimi, Doris and Nancy’s youth, for Cord 
scorned the performance as silly, holding resolutely 
to her big doll, Mildred, whom she had brought 
to the meeting, but not in any wise to bid her 
good-by. 

Nancy had gone up to the meeting place early, 
carrying her beloved Rosamond, dressed in her best, 
like the daughter of a captive Gaul adorned for a 
Roman sacrifice. Rick followed Nancy with his vio- 
lin to make music, at her request, for the ceremony. 


20 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


He looked amused, yet solemnly excited, too. He 
and Nancy saw things alike, by the light of the im- 
agination which they shared, and Nancy had fired 
Rick with something of her own feelings on this 
awe-inspiring occasion. 

Nancy did not talk to Rick after they got to the 
barn chamber temple. She placed Rosamond on the 
hay beside her and held her hand, waiting for the 
others to arrive. They came soon. Nancy drew a 
quick inward breath as she heard them on the stairs 
and recognized Mimi’s step, because she tripped as 
lightly as plump people do, and she knew Doris 
when she stumbled, and knew it was because she 
held Leonora high and tight and could not see well 
over her. 

“Have you been waiting long?” asked Mimi 
breathlessly. 

“ Just a few minutes,” said Nancy, shaking her 
head. “ I told Cordie to come, but she isn’t here. 
Of course she’s too young to give up Mildred; she 
thought I meant that when I told her about it, and 
asked her.” 

“ She wouldn’t anyway,” observed Doris, know- 
ing Cord. “ Where shall the dolls sit? We ought 
not to hold them.” 

“ There,” said Nancy, pointing to a box. It was 


“ WITH RELUCTANT FEET” 


21 


draped with red, white and blue bunting, a little the 
worse for being wind-whipped, left from previous 
Fourth of July celebrations. 

“ I tried to think of something pretty to cover 
their seat with, something suitable, but there didn’t 
seem to be anything but that bunting,” Nancy ex- 
plained. 

“ Red, white and blue’s all right.. We’re going to 
declare ourselves grown up, just like the thirteen 
original States,” said Mimi. 

“ It’s a very different thing to declare yourself 
free from a tyrant and to declare you won’t associ- 
ate with some one you loved dearly,” said Nancy, 
revelling in the melancholy thought. “ I hear Cord, 
I think.” 

She did hear her. Cord came running into the. 
barn and up the stairs, whooping as she came and 
stubbing her toe violently against the edge of one 
of the steps. 

“Did you wait for me?” she panted. “I just 
ran and tore down here, but I couldn’t come till I’d 
done the dishes, and then I tore my skirt, whisking 
out to hang up the towel, and they both said I 
shouldn’t come till I darned the tear, to make me 
remember not to be careless ! Maybe I wasn’t mad ! 
You can bet I’ll hammer that old nail on the back 


22 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


porch to-morrow so it’ll know what’s hittin’ it! 
Started your meetin’ ? ” 

“ No, Cord, we haven’t; the girls haven’t been 
here long enough,” said Rick, who enjoyed Cord 
beyond expression. “You sit down; it’s going to 
begin.” 

“ And you may as well hold Mildred, because she 
isn’t going to be given up; only Mimi’s Dorothy, 
Doris’ Leonora and my Rosamond,” said Nancy, 
speaking her doll’s name with a clinging to its 
musical sound and a lowering of her voice. 

“ Not much Mildred isn’t! ” declared Cord, tum- 
bling down with her child in her arms in a heap on 
the hay, and affectionately touching up her curls. 
Cord’s doll alone of the four, though she had not 
owned her as long as the others had owned theirs, 
looked tousled, as though her life was not a calm 
one, as it probably was not. 

“Who’s in the chair?” asked Nancy, who had 
been present at public meetings. 

“ You are,” cried Mimi and Doris together, while 
Cord flippantly asked nobody in particular : “ Who’s 
in the hay? ” 

“ Then will the meeting please come to order,” 
said Nancy, shaking her head at Cord. 

“ Ladies and gentleman,” began Nancy. “ We 


“ WITH RELUCTANT FEET ” 


23 


are met together this afternoon for a solemn reason. 
We will open the exercises with a recitation by Miss 
Miriam Hunt, ‘ The Dead Doll.’ ” 

Mimi arose and gravely recited the familiar lines, 
bowed, and resumed her seat upon the hay. 

“ Miss Doris Clark will next address the meet- 
ing/’ announced Nancy. 

Doris got on her feet, looking as uncomfortably 
embarrassed as if it were a Sunday-School conven- 
tion which she was called upon to address. 

“ Ladies and gentlemen — I mean gentleman,”, 
she began. “ It is my fault that we have to have 
this meeting. Aunt Augusta, I mean Miss Augusta 
Clark, wishes me to send away my adopted daugh- 
ter, Leonora, to go to the mission for little Indian 
children. Of course Miss Clark has a right to say 
that Leonora must go somewhere, because it is her 
house, but Leonora does not wish to go to the mis- 
sion. Therefore Miss Porter and Miss Hunt are 
willing to go with her into Attica. That is a coun- 
try not far from here. I am going to send her there 
because old age is creeping upon me, and I am not 
able to support Leonora as I did. I call upon any 
other parents who are present to make a sacrifice 
like mine for their daughters.” 

Doris sat down, having finished her speech, to 


24 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


which Mimi and Nancy listened with as much at- 
tention as if Nancy had not composed it, with 
Mimi’s help. 

“ The meeting will unite in singing — unite in 
singing — What shall we sing? ” asked the chair- 
man desperately. “ I’ve thought and thought, and 
couldn’t think of one suitable thing.” 

“ ‘ God be with you till we meet again ’ would be 
suitable,” said Doris, in entire earnest, and with no 
intention of being irreverent. 

“ Gracious ! ” exclaimed Mimi, shocked. 

“ Oh, mercy! No, indeed!” cried Nancy, with 
an irrepressible laugh, for she had her father’s sense 
of humour and instantly imagined how he would 
look when she told him Doris’ proposition. 

Rick tumbled over in the hay to laugh his fill 
while Nancy pulled her lips straight and said, see- 
ing Doris looked offended : 

“ You know it wouldn’t do to sing a real hymn 
saying farewell to the dolls, and we don’t mean to 
meet again, except when we go up to look at them 
sitting in our attic. I couldn’t think of a thing 
except ‘ The Soldier’s Farewell,’ and that’s ridicu- 
lous.” 

“ ‘ We Shall Meet in the Sweet By and By?’ ” 
suggested Doris brightening hopefully. “ Oh, that’s 


“WITH RELUCTANT FEET ” 25 

a hymn, too, but it never seems like one, and besides, 
we don’t mean to play with them again.” 

“ Sing 4 Darling Nellie Gray, they have taken you 
away,’ ” suggested Mimi, with a little gurgle of 
amusement. 

Nancy heaved , a sigh that was half a laugh and 
half a real sigh. 

“ Mimi,” she said reproachfully, “ we can’t help 
thinking this is rather funny, but we mustn’t act as 
though we did. Because what’s the use of making 
believe if you don’t make believe you believe? Now 
we’re the meeting again ; I mean I’m the chairman. 
I am afraid, Miss Hunt, that we don’t know more 
than a line or two of that song. Won’t Mr. Lover- 
ing play something on his violin that would be suit- 
able, and that we all can sing? ” 

“ I don’t know how I can, if you don’t know what 
this meeting knows how to sing, Miss Porter,” Rick 
replied. He took up his violin, nevertheless, and 
hesitatingly played a few chords. Suddenly, with 
an inspiration, he dashed spiritedly into : “ Fare you 
well, for I must leave you,” the chorus of a college 
song that everybody, old and young knows. 

Mimi, Doris and Nancy took up the air and words 
with relief — they were wonderfully appropriate, 
yet cheerful, they felt as they sang : 


26 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ Fare you well, for I must leave you, 

Do not let the parting grieve you, 

And remember that the best of friends must part, must part. 
Adieu, adieu, kind friends, adieu, adieu, adieu, 

I can no longer stay with you, stay with you, 

I’ll hang my harp on the weeping willow tree, 

And may the world go well with thee ! ” 

It was such a success that it was repeated, and the 
three ladies, who were parting from their adopted 
daughters, felt their spirits lighter for the jolly 
swing of this song. 

“ The next thing on the programme,” said Nancy, 
“ is a recitation, by the chairman, of Longfellow’s 
poem, ‘ Maidenhood.’ It’s rather long and most of 
it doesn’t fit very well, but we had to have it, be- 
cause it’s the only thing we knew of that had any- 
thing about ‘ standing with reluctant feet,’ growing 
up in it. That’s the verse we have to pay most at- 
tention to.” With which introduction the chairman 
proceeded to recite the poem in her best manner. 

“ Now,” she said at the close of her recitation, “ I 
think resolutions come next. Miss Hunt will offer 
one.” 

“ I move that it be resolved,” said Mimi, jumping 
on her feet as Nancy sat down and betraying how 
carefully this meeting had been rehearsed, “ That it 
be resolved that we are all twelve years old on our 


44 WITH RELUCTANT FEET ” 


27 


last birthdays, and go into our ’teens on our next 
ones. So I move that it be resolved that we are 
growing up.” 

“ Second the motion,” murmured Doris. 

“ If that isn’t silly ! ” cried Cord, speaking for the 
first time ; she had sat in open-mouthed wonder over 
the formality of this gathering. 44 Of course we’re 
growing up ! Everybody is, or else growing old — 
what’d you s’pose ! ” 

44 The guests at this meeting are requested not to 
interrupt,” said the chairman, frowning upon Cord. 
44 It has been moved and seconded that it be resolved 
that we are in our thirteenth year and are growing 
up. All in favour please say: Aye! Contrary 
minded? It is a vote.” 

44 1 move,” said Doris, rising in her turn, 44 that 
it be resolved that we are too old to play with dolls 
and that we put them away, solemnly, to-day in 
Doctor Porter’s attic, where we may visit them once 
in a while, but not take them back in the same 
way.” 

44 Second the motion ! ” said Mimi promptly. 

44 That ought to have been two resolutions ; 
there’s too much in that for one, but it doesn’t mat- 
ter ; it makes it go quicker. All in favour — ” be- 
gan the chairman, but was interrupted. 


28 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ Aye ! ” cried the meeting unanimously, with- 
out waiting for her to call for the contrary 
vote. 

“ Now the only thing to do,” said the chairman, 
rising with a look on her face that banished all 
thought of there being anything in the least funny 
in the solemnity of the occasion, “ the only thing 
left for this meeting to do is to bear away the three 
darlings sitting there.” 

Nancy heroically set the example by advancing 
toward Rosamond. The resolution of her air, the 
tragic note in her voice, the excited, yet gloomy 
look in her dilated eyes, were too much for Mimi, 
who, though not usually emotional, suddenly burst 
out crying. 

“ You mustn’t do that! Really, Mimi, you must 
not cry! ” protested Nancy, whose sense of the aw- 
fulness upon them had come fully upon her at this 
last moment, but took other form than tears. “ It 
has been resolved that we are to do this, and it is 
too late to change — besides, we’ve talked this over 
often enough. It spoils it all for one of us to cry. 
We must be like the Mother of the Grachii — no, 
I don’t mean her, I mean — well, a Spartan Mother, 
or a Roman Matron, or any of those great people 
who sacrificed their children without a murmur 


“ WITH RELUCTANT FEET” 29 

when they had to. Now, please stop crying, and get 
Dorothy, and fall into line.” 

Nancy’s word was law. Mimi bravely choked 
back her tears, and quietly, though not calmly, went 
to get her beloved doll from the trio waiting for the 
girls. Doris followed her, pale and miserable look- 
ing, but dry-eyed. 

“ Well, before I would ! ” ejaculated Cord, pro- 
foundly stirred by the scene, but with a strong sense 
that it was needless. 

No one heeded her. “ Play, please,” said Nancy 
to Rick, and Rick began a march. He headed the 
procession. Behind came, first Nancy, bearing 
Rosamond, next Mimi, with her Dorothy, then 
Doris, carrying Leonora, who was the cause of the 
ceremony, and Cord ended the line, bearing Mil- 
dred, whom she held tightly clutched as though 
she feared separation from her in spite of her 
own resolution and that no one wanted it to 
be. 

The procession moved carefully down the barn 
stairs, for the dolls were large and plump, so that it 
was difficult to see over their shoulders. It went on 
across the grass toward the house, Rick playing his 
best, which was a very good best, and the girls keep- 
ing time, upheld by his music. 


30 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


Letty Hetty came out the back door to find out 
what this procession signified. 

“ My sakes, children, are you playin’ you’re 
Chinese mothers, or out in India, goin’ to sacri- 
fice your girl babies? Looks ’sif you had some- 
thing kind of awful like that goin’ on,” she 
said. 

“ It’s not so awful as drowning them, as they do 
in China,” Nancy stopped to explain. She was as 
fond of Letty Hetty as that devoted woman was of 
her; Letty Hetty had known Nancy as long as her 
own mother had. “We are giving up playing with 
them to-day, and that is bad enough ; we are doing 
it to keep Doris company; her aunt says she must. 
We don’t really enjoy dolls as we did, and yet we 
love them as well as ever. It’s quite dreadful to 
give them up, but, you see, Letty Hetty, we are get- 
ting older — going on thirteen, and we’re 4 standing 
with reluctant feet, where the brook and river 
meet.’ ” 

“ Jerusalem Halifax Gentleman, Nancy, you’re 
the queerest little piece! ” ejaculated Letty Hetty, as 
the procession resumed its way, leaving her standing 
on the piazza, amusement and regret written on her 
face. 

Mrs. Porter was out ; the children met no one on 


“WITH RELUCTANT FEET ” 31 

the rest of their march, through the hall, up the 
stairs, and again, up the attic stairs. 

Here Nancy had arranged a kind of throne upon 
which Rosamond, Leonora and Dorothy were to sit 
in solitude together till, as Mimi said, “ their 
mothers came to get them to give them to their chil- 
dren to play with. ,, 

But Nancy had instantly put in a proviso that 
they should visit the discarded dolls whenever they 
were minded to do so; she, for one, expected to go 
up often to see that everything was right with the 
three. 

Nancy had draped the dolls’ throne with an old 
couch cover, and had arranged a sort of veil at its 
back which should be brought forward and save the 
dolls from dust. 

One by one, without a word, each little girl came 
up and set her doll in its place, bending her arms so 
that her hands came into her lap, straightening her 
feet and pulling her skirt decently down over them. 

Then all three stepped back, Doris and Mimi look- 
ing to Nancy to be told what next to do. 

Nancy wanted to cry, so, being her father’s own 
daughter, she fell back on his methods, and did 
something to make herself laugh. 

“ Take hands,” she ordered, extending both her 


32 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


own hands. Mimi and Doris obediently clasped 
them. “ Bow, as low as you can, ’way down to the 
floor,” commanded Nancy. 

The three kow-towed thrice. The difficulty of 
doing this, holding hands in a row, took away much 
of the emotion of this moment of actual parting. 

“ Down-stairs, quick!” said Nancy. “Wheel, 
march ! Play something gay, Rick ! ” 

Rick did as he was bidden, and ten feet came 
down the attic stairs on a run. The girls paused in 
the hall, looking at one another, flushed, quick of 
breath, ready to cry, but trying to laugh. 

“ We can get them any time we want to, any- 
way,” said Mimi. 

Nancy turned swiftly on her. “ No, we cannot! ” 
she cried. “ We can’t undo it. We can visit them; 
we will do that, but we cannot take them back. 
Mamma says it’s bad for any one to get in the habit 
of breaking resolutions ; it makes us weak charac- 
ters, to whiffle round like a vane.” 

“A vain what?” asked Doris. “It wouldn’t 
make me vain to change my mind.” 

“ Oh, not that kind of vain ! Not being vain : a 
vane, a weather vane, weathercock, you know ! ” 
cried Nancy, and this time she did not have to try 
to laugh. “ We’ve given up dolls, and we have to 


“ WITH RELUCTANT FEET ” 


33 


stick to it. I feel rather awful myself, but I shall 
not go back — besides, it isn’t as though we hadn’t 
begun to out-gro w them ! But I do feel miserable ! 
Let’s play Puss-Puss-in-the-Corner ; Cord’s here to 
make just five, it’ll fill the corners, with one for the 
middle.” 

“ I’ll have to go back pretty soon. Mercy’s going 
to make me some waffles for supper, if I get home in 
time to feed her chickens and peel the potatoes for 
her. I guess I can sit Mildred down here now; I 
was kinder ’fraid she’d get in that good-by time,” 
said Cord with a little chuckle. 

“You ought to say set her down, Cord,” re- 
marked Mimi. “ I think the Slocums are nice to 
you.” 

“ So they are, but I guess I help a lot, if I am 
little. I always did love housework,” Cord said. 

In a moment she was “ it ” and with shrill mews 
was coaxing the “ pussies ” on the corners to start, 
her very red lips puckered, her thin forefinger 
crooked invitingly. When one of the corner “ pus- 
sies ” did start she was after her post, shrieking 
wildly, her black hair streaming raggedly from its 
braid as she ran. The other girls shrieked and ran 
as excitedly; the melancholy of the parting cere- 
mony of the day was forgotten. Yet, absurd as it 


34 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


all had been, the solemn giving up of the dolls had 
not been without its effect on all three little girls 
taking part in it. It really did mark a milestone in 
their growing-up, and placed their “ reluctant feet ” 
a little farther on “ the river’s ” side at its meeting 
point with “ the brook.” 



CHAPTER III 


A MORNING DRIVE 



OCTOR PORTER had been called 
on an urgent case at five o’clock. 
He came back to a belated break- 
fast, saw the few patients that came 
to him after it, and by half-past ten 
was ready to begin the regular 


work of the day. 

He thrust his head into his wife’s sitting-room 
and raised his eyebrows inquiringly. Nancy looked 
up and nodded with an understanding so quick that 
it betrayed the fact of a previous experience of this 
mute invitation. 

" We’re just through, mother and I,” she said. 
“ We got all through with arithmetic and the French 
verb for to-day before breakfast, and we’ve done 
our history, done our lovely ‘ travel geography ’ and 
read our German short story since, so I’m as free 
as a swallow! Did you want me, dearest doc- 
tor?” 


35 



36 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ Not especially,” said the doctor slowly. “ But 
if you insist on going with me driving, it’s as good 
a morning as the sun ever looks upon, and I’m going 
to stop a minute at Grandma Emerson’s, and then 
I’m going up to the Stone House.” 

“ Oh, I insist! ” cried Nancy, jumping up. “ I’ll 
be ready in a wee wink. You know I’ve got to be 
just a tiny bit finer to go to Miss Allaire’s than I 
would be if it was only Grandma Emerson’s. But 
it won’t take me more than the wee wink, even for 
there.” 

“ Wee wink! You mean a wee prink, you young 
Worldling! When you’re behind such a handsome 
steed as Tonic, and beside an Apollo like me, who 
do you suppose will notice whether you wear your 
dun homespun, or your undone crimson cloth-of- 
gold ? ” the doctor pretended to growl. 

By this time Nancy had him fast by the lapels of 
his coat, and she shook him with one hand while she 
pulled his shaggy head down with the other to a 
height where she could tousle it. 

“ Now you can just go and do some prinking on 
your own account, for you’re a sight ! ” she cried 
gleefully. “ I’m only going out of pity for you, not 
because I like to drive with you, and if you are not 
more polite to me I’ll stop taking pity on you — so 


A MORNING DRIVE 37 

there ! ” She kissed the broad brow which she had 
pulled down to her reach, and ran away to get ready 
for her drive with this adored father, which was as 
great a pleasure to her as if it were a rarity instead 
of an almost daily occurrence. 

Mrs. Porter sat smiling at this scene, her peaceful 
face alight with happiness and amusement. 

“ How you do spoil Nancy, Mark! ” she said, just 
as the doctor exclaimed : “ You see what a good-for- 
nothing Nancy’s getting to be; you spoil her, Mil- 
dred ! ” 

They both laughed at this duet. It was a stand- 
ing joke between them that each spoiled their one, 
beloved child, while both knew the truth that loving, 
conscientious, sweet little Nancy was not in the least 
spoiled, but returned their devotion to her with de- 
votion, their tenderness with obedience, their love 
with love, and while that was true there could be 
no question of spoiling her. 

Nancy got ready as quickly as she promised to, 
coming down a dainty little figure in the grayish 
blue which her mother preferred for her, which 
brought out the grayish blue of her eyes. The doc- 
tor had to hurry on his outer coat, detained as he 
had been by repairing the damage Nancy had done 
his hair, and she triumphed over him for keeping 


38 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


her waiting after all, in spite of his remarks anent 
prinking. 

So they started off as happily as possible in the 
low buggy, drawn by the faithful old brown horse 
who was a part of the family, as well as an institu- 
tion in Chagford. 

“ There are two news items for you this morning, 
Assistant,” the doctor said as they turned up the 
street, having convinced Tonic that they did not 
mean to go to the post-office just now, always a dif- 
ficult matter. 

“ Is it good news?” asked Nancy. 

“ Yes, though it will mean a great deal of work 
for somebody, several somebodies, Mrs. Mark Por- 
ter as much as any one,” said the doctor. “ We are 
to have the hospital; it is decided upon, and there 
are to be great events this summer to raise money 
to begin to build in the fall. I shall expect my as- 
sistant to work for it, of course.” 

“ She will,” cried Nancy. “ That is good news! 
Is the other as important?” 

“ Hardly as important as the hospital, but inter- 
esting to us — Amabel Willis is coming home,” the 
doctor told her. 

“ Oh, goodness ! Is she really coming at last ! ” 
cried Nancy in instant excitement. “ I wonder 



u 


)) 


SO THEY STARTED OFF AS HAPPILY AS POSSIBLE 
























' 















A MORNING DRIVE 


39 


what she’ll be like. She’s been gone a year and a 
half. Do you suppose she will speak with an ac- 
cent? I wonder if she has changed much. She 
must have, being abroad all that time. I think we, 
Mimi and Doris and I, will be rather afraid of her. 
I hope she’ll be nice to Rick now; she was pretty 
horrid when she thought he was a poor boy, but 
maybe when she knows he has an Italian countess 
cousin, besides being one of the old Lovering Chag- 
ford family she may be nice — or perhaps travelling 
has made her nice even when one hasn’t fine rela- 
tions; they say it improves a person’s manners to 
travel.” 

“ Nancy, you solemn little absurdity! ” the doctor 
laughed, pulling the lap robe over his assistant by 
way of caressing her. “ We’ll be ready to believe 
Amabel is all we could ask, that the broad ocean has 
given her breadth of mind. I doubt that you three 
small girls will continue afraid of her long. Sup- 
pose you run into the house for me ? Give Grandma 
Emerson this phial and tell her to take its contents 
faithfully and she’ll have no more of this * feeling 
good-for-nothing ’ that she complained of to me.” 

The doctor had stopped Tonic at the gate of a 
small white house, turned the wheel, and Nancy 
willingly jumped out to do her errand. Grandma 


40 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

Emerson, grandmother to no one, but “ grandma ” 
to all her friends, young and older, was one of those 
persons to whom a child always runs gladly. Cheer- 
ful, unselfish, kindly, affectionate, the dear little old 
lady lived alone in her small house, but lived in the 
midst of unfailing love for her that made her con- 
nections with Chagford almost family ones. 

She came to meet Nancy now as the little girl 
pushed open the door, which was ajar, and she took 
Nancy’s delicate face between her cool, softly wrin- 
kled hands to kiss it as she cried : 

“ Well, Nancy Porter, you’re as welcome as a 
May blossom this May morning! Brought my 
tonic, did you — with that old Tonic of yours! 
Well, like’s not it’s all nonsense, my taking it ; likely 
it’s only spring fever ails me, but when you’re past 
seventy, dearie, you feel less like letting spring fever 
run on, for fear it will end in a regular fall trouble. 
So I asked your father to give me something that 
would put the other kind of springs back in me. 
Aren’t you going to stay here, my chicken ? Doctor 
waiting? Well, I wish he’d have left you. I made 
some strawberry cake early this morning that I be- 
lieve would have suited you for your luncheon.” 

“ I’d love to stay, Grandma, even without straw- 
berry cake,” laughed Nancy, “ but we’re to go on 


A MORNING DRIVE 


41 


up to the Stone House. Father just told me that 
the hospital is decided upon, and everybody’s got to 
work hard this summer to earn money for it. And 
the Willises are coming home from Europe. That’s 
all the news, Grandma Emerson.” 

“ I saw some one had opened up the Willis house 
yesterday, when I came past it,” said Grandma 
Emerson with lively interest. “ I expect they had 
the Widow Galvin, from over to the Falls, airing 
and cleaning it for them! And the hospital is an 
accepted fact ! I want to know ! Then we can tum- 
ble down and break all the crowns a republic allows 
us, and have a place to get them soldered together! 
I’m sure I’m delighted to hear it. Tell your father 
I shall work as hard as I can to raise money for it. 
I’ve knit a quilt and laid it away against this hospital 
time’s coming; I’m going to give that to be drawn 
on chances, though what my dear mother would 
have said to her daughter’s knitting a quilt for raf- 
fling I can well imagine ! ” 

“ Only think how many things we do that our 
Puritan ancestors would have thought were dread- 
ful,” said Nancy, with a vague idea that one might 
as well shock Grandma Emerson’s mother as fore- 
bears farther removed, since they had all passed into 
the realm of understanding modern consciences. 


42 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ I must go this very instant, Grandma dear. 
Father said you were to take this faithfully and it 
would make you feel better. Good-by, dear little 
Grandma Emerson. Come to our house for all day 
as soon as you can.” 

“ Thank you, Nancy Porter. I want you should 
come to spend the day with me the first Saturday 
we can arrange it, so Rick can come with you,” re- 
turned Grandma Emerson. 

“We always just love to come!” cried Nancy 
hastily kissing Grandma Emerson’s cheek, that felt 
cool and soft, with fine wrinkles in it, like a piece 
of taffeta that had been laid away not quite 
smoothly. “ It has been disagreeable having Rick 
at school this winter, instead of doing lessons with 
me, but papa and mamma say it’s far better for him 
now, and I suppose they know. Good-by.” 

Nancy ran out of the door and down the walk, 
jumping into the buggy to make up for the time she 
had been detained. Grandma Emerson came out on 
the upper step to see her off and to wave her hand 
to the doctor in return for his salute with the whip. 

“ She’s a dear thing,” said Nancy, settling back 
into her place as they rolled away. “ That little 
house is so cheery and cute; I love it. It always 
seems as if it were a tiny box lined with pink; it 


A MORNING DRIVE 43 

has just the cheerful look a little white, pink-lined 
jewelry box has.” 

“ And Grandma Emerson is just like a little pink 
coral heart tucked away in it ! ” the doctor supple- 
mented Nancy’s simile with a laugh. “ She’s a 
jewel of a little woman, my Dame Durden. There 
are few people in Chagford who haven’t known her 
practical sympathy in trouble which would hardly 
have been bearable without that brave little crea- 
ture’s efficient help.” 

“ Oh, I know ! ” cried Nancy. “ Letty Hetty says 
she never could have lived through that time when 
you were gone, and I was so fearfully ill, if 
Grandma Emerson hadn’t come right there and 
stayed. She says when things looked blackest dear 
little Grandma Emerson wouldn’t even allow I 
might die, but went right on knitting slippers for 
me to wear when I sat up, and those knitting nee- 
dles were like trumpets to Letty Hetty, calling on 
her to be brave, too, and cheering her like a whole 
brass band. Letty Hetty is certainly funny ! ” 
Nancy laughed softly. 

“ Those are the days I never can bear to recall,” 
said the doctor with a frown. 

“ Oh, I don’t know ! They make me seem more 
here to remember them,” said Nancy, leaning close 


44 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


to her father as he put his arm around her and held 
her tight, the treasure beyond all treasures that he 
had so nearly lost ! 

Chagford was a pretty town and the drive up to 
“ the Stone House,” as the great old colonial house 
in which the Misses Allaire lived was called, was one 
of the prettiest drives of the many lovely roads 
through and around the town. The road wandered 
in a leisurely fashion slightly up hill, past the lake, 
which had once been called the pond, but which had 
been named with more dignity of recent days, past 
pretty old-fashioned and modern houses sitting back 
of their lawns. It was shaded all the way by the 
splendid elms of New England, and by the ghostly 
buttonwoods, which made picturesque contrast to 
the bright young May green with their gray peeling 
trunks. 

It had been two years since the doctor had first 
taken Nancy to this impressive, but then oppressive 
house, as “ a prescription ” to the two stately sisters 
whom Nancy had then called “ the shut-in ladies.” 
It had been just such another lovely May morning 
when she had made that first call. Nancy remem- 
bered how afraid she had been, how she had dreaded 
to enter that solemn mansion, then a dreary house, 
tight-shut to the outer world, as its inmates had been 


A MORNING DRIVE 


45 


withdrawn from their neighbours. How changed 
this all was! Now Miss Dorinda and Miss Belinda 
Allaire had come back into the daily life of human 
beings, at least as much as such exceedingly formal 
ladies could come. Miss Belinda had taught Nancy 
music for over a year, and the little girl was as fond 
of the two sisters as they were wrapped up in her. 
She did not realize how much the doctor’s “ pre- 
scription ” had had to do with the happy change, 
though she did know, in a general way, that the first 
visit she had made to the Allaires had been the open- 
ing wedge, that their interest in “ the doctor’s little 
girl ” had been the beginning of their renewed in- 
terest in Chagford. How far-reaching had been the 
charm of a sweet child in its effect on the two ladies 
who had allowed sorrow to warp them, Nancy was 
too thoroughly a little girl and a modest little girl 
to know. 

“ It’s very nice to be so glad to come up here ; 
do you remember how frightened I was when you 
first brought me? ” Nancy said, out of these reminis- 
cences. 

“ Truth to tell, I wondered that you loved me well 
enough to conquer that fear, Bonny Nancy,” re- 
turned her father. “ I may tell you now that I ap- 
preciated your letting me give you as a prescription. 


46 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


It must have seemed like being swallowed alive, like 
a modern little feminine edition of Martius Curtius 
leaping into the gulf ! And down at the bottom of 
the gulf you found good friends and lots of fun! 
Here we are, Miss Daughter! I shall tie Tonic, so 
you run up and ring the bell while I’m doing it.” 

Nancy obeyed. A maid answered the summons 
so promptly that the door had to be held open for 
the doctor a moment or so before he came up the 
steps, pulling off his right glove, ready for saluta- 
tions. 

Miss Belinda Allaire came down immediately, 
made them welcome, and asked them to excuse Miss 
Dorinda, who was hurrying the writing of an im- 
portant letter for the next mail. 

Miss Belinda drew Nancy to her, and sat down to 
talk to her father with her arm still around the little 
maid’s shoulder. 

“ I came up at once to tell you, Miss Belinda, that 
the decision to build the hospital has been taken. I 
wanted to get you interested and start you planning 
its ways and means — especially its means — at 
once,” Doctor Porter explained his visit. 

It’s to be a fair, I suppose?” asked Miss Be- 
linda. “ It is always a fair in these cases.” 

“ If nothing better offers,” the doctor said. 


A MORNING DRIVE 


47 


“ Doesn’t it seem as though Chagford might build 
its hospital out of something more interesting than 
flimsy aprons and useless fancy work? ” 

“ It can ! ” cried Miss Belinda, with a lively de- 
cision very different from her old-time indifference. 
“ What do you say to a pageant of Chagford ? She 
has history enough back of her ! And this is a pag- 
eant period, to put it alliteratively. I’ve been think- 
ing of this, if the hospital should become a fact to be 
worked for. And I think it would be delightful to 
have a sort of Children’s Crusade for the hospital; 
I’d like to have something charming done by the 
Chagford children alone, and let the proceeds of that 
be applied to fitting out a children’s ward, perhaps, 
or to establish a free bed for children.” 

“ My dear Miss Belinda, you are a real fount of 
suggestion ! ” Doctor Porter cried, much pleased. 
“ It is too early to decide what great things we shall 
do, but not too early to make up our minds that they 
shall be tremendously great. I wanted to set you 
to planning as soon as possible.” 

“ I’ll help as far as I possibly can,” said Miss Be- 
linda. “ We’ll make Nancy work her fingers 
off! Nancy, don’t you want to go to see the 
Coggs?” 

“ I do if you think I do, Miss Belinda,” said 


48 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


Nancy. “ What kind of cogs are they? Are they 
new works at the mills ? ” 

“ In a sense they are, yes,” Miss Belinda laughed, 
and Nancy saw that there was something funny 
about these cogs that she did not understand. “ I 
believe I will keep them a secret, these Coggs, till 
you’ve seen them. They are mill Coggs, have some- 
thing to do with the wheels there, but not in the way 
you think. I’d like to show them to you and Rick 
together. Shall it be an engagement? To-morrow, 
after tea, will you and Rick drive there with me if 
I call for you ? I can’t show you these Coggs while 
the mill wheels are in motion; we must go after 
hours. Will you consent to the expedition, Doctor 
Porter?” 

“ Surely, Miss Belinda, though I’m as much in the 
dark about these cogs as Nancy is,” the doctor said. 
“ However, I’ll gladly lend my own girl and my 
acquired boy to you to do with as you see 
fit, and neither Nancy nor I will pry into the 
secret.” 

“ Ah, I think I may be allowed a mystery! ” cried 
Miss Belinda gaily. “ And, by the way, Nancy, I 
have another secret to tantalize you — or I hope 
that it will ! ” 

She arose and brought from a drawer in a tall 


A MORNING DRIVE 49 

cabinet a small carved, Eastern looking box which 
she placed in Nancy’s hand. 

“ Open it, Nancy girl,” Miss Belinda said. 

Nancy opened it with expectantly fluttering heart. 
There, resting on pale jewellers’ cotton which gave 
out a faint, sweet odour, lay a gold chain, so fine, 
so delicately wrought that it fell together in a space 
no bigger than a hazel nut shell. Resting on the 
chain, proving to be hung upon it when she lifted 
it, Nancy saw a ball, bound around its centre with 
a hoop of gold, a little ball three quarters of an inch 
in diameter. 

Nancy’s breath came with a gasp of delight as 
she took out the exquisite chain and looked at the 
little ball. Having let it swing into the light she 
saw that the ball was made of two moonstones held 
together by the gold band; they were flat on the 
sides where they came together, and between them 
was a tiny strip of something that looked like paper. 

“ The ball opens, Nancy,” Miss Belinda said, 
watching Nancy’s face with amused affection in her 
eyes. “ Do you see that little dent in the gold band ? 
That opens the ball, and that bit of paper you see in 
it has a secret written on it that is worth more than 
a chart for finding buried treasures. The chain and 
ball are for you, but you are not to open the 


50 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


ball nor know what is the secret in its heart till your 
thirteenth birthday — do you think you can wear 
it and wait all that time to peep at the secret? For 
not a peep is allowed till October! ” 

Nancy flung herself at Miss Belinda rapturously. 
“You dear, dear, lovely Fairy Godmother!” she 
cried. “ Thank you, oh, thank you ! It’s perfectly 
beautiful! Of course it will scorch me not to open 
the ball, but it will be a glorious scorch ! I’ll think 
and think, and wonder and wonder, and get quite 
wild, but it will be the most fun ! Oh, how nice you 
are and how good to me ! ” 

“ Moonstones are said to be lucky. You’ll see, 
when the time comes, that these moonstones hold the 
secret of happiness. I’m delighted that you like the 
little trinket, Nancy dear,” said Miss Belinda, and 
her eyes showed that she was delighted. 

Nancy sat beside her father on the homeward 
drive holding the moonstone ball in her palm, en- 
joying its smoothness in the hollow of her hand, and 
vainly trying to guess what its secret could be. 

“ I don’t know what I’ve done that I should not 
be spoken to,” the doctor pretended to grumble after 
enduring Nancy’s silence as long as he could. 

Nancy rubbed her cheek against his coat sleeve 
like an affectionate dog. 


A MORNING DRIVE 


51 


“ I don’t either,” she agreed with him. “ But 
I’m moonstruck — moonstone struck — and I was 
wondering so hard I forgot to talk. I’m a very 
lucky girl, Doctor Porter, M. D. ! ” 



CHAPTER IV 


THE COGGSES 



ICK had little spare time in his busy 
days. When he had first come to 
stay with the Porters Mrs. Porter 
had let him have lessons with 
Nancy under her own teaching. 

She rightly judged that the home 
atmosphere could give more to homeless Rick than 
school could, and that his fine imagination, like 
Nancy’s in kind, would gain more sharing her read- 
ing of the best English books than from the routine 
of a longer list of studies than was followed by the 
little maid. 

But now that Rick had been an inmate of the 
Porter home for so many months, had grown strong 
as the time lengthened between the present days of 
boyish health and the old ones when he had been 
frail and lame, Rick had begun school. The doctor 
and his wife felt that it would be best for him to 
take his place among boys, which is as good a way 
as there is to learn to be a man among men, later on. 

52 


“THE COGGSES” 


53 


When school was over there were few days when 
Rick failed to pay a visit to poor crippled Lydia 
Slocum, who had befriended him when he needed 
friends. Rick had a beautiful nature; he was sensi- 
tive and fine in all ways, but not the least of his 
beautiful traits was gratitude that lasted. It gave 
Lydia the keenest pleasure she had to see the boy, 
and with unfailing patience Rick sacrificed some of 
his play hours daily to her, thus repaying his debt. 
It pleased the doctor more than he said to see how 
quietly and steadily the boy fulfilled this duty, taking 
it as a matter of course, just as he had decided 
not to go to Italy when Lydia’s accident had be- 
fallen her and she needed him. 

So there were not many hours of the day when 
Rick was available as a companion to Nancy; she 
waylaid him the moment he came in after she had 
returned from the Allaire house. 

“ Rick, Miss Belinda is going to take us over to 
Chagford Falls to-morrow, right after tea,” said 
Nancy, backing Rick against the wall and looking 
up at him jubilantly — Rick had out-stripped her 
in growing and she had to look up at him. 

“Any special reason?” asked Rick. “Nancy, I 
could hear just as well if I weren’t right against 
the wall paper, with the table leg denting mine.” 


54 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


Nancy laughed and released him. “ We are go- 
ing to see some cogs. I don’t know what they are, 
nor why Miss Belinda wants us to see machinery, 
but she does, and we’re going. There’s a kind of 
secret mystery about them.” 

“ Sounds good,” said Rick heartily. “ But I don’t 
see how there can be anything much to cogs — 
maybe Miss Belinda has bought the mills, or some- 
thing like that.” 

“ Rick, you are bright ! I shouldn’t wonder if 
she had, not a bit, and had put in some kind of new 
cogs to make it easier for the mill hands to work! 
’Twould be just like, her,” cried Nancy, admiring 
Rick’s cleverness and Miss Belinda’s supposed phi- 
lanthropy. 

“ Well, we’ll find out to-morrow night. Here’s 
another secret! Just look at this lovely moonstone 
ball, and the fine, fine chain! Miss Belinda gave 
them to me ! And that paper you see in the ball is 
another mystery. I’m not to open it till my thir- 
teenth birthday, and then I’ll find written on that 
paper a secret worth more than a chart telling where 
to find buried treasure — that’s what Miss Belinda 
said! If I don’t die of curiosity before next Oc- 
tober ! ” 

“ It surely is a peach, Nancy,” said Rick, examin- 


“ THE COGGSES ” 55 

ing the little ball. “ I don’t see how there could be 
much on that tiny thread of paper.” 

“ It isn’t a peach, Richie ; you think so because 
it’s round, but it is a moonstone ball,” Nancy cor- 
rected him demurely. “ I don’t see, either, how 
there can be much on that paper; that’s part of the 
mystery, I suppose. Anyway, Miss Belinda said 
what I told you, and she knows.” 

“ She gave you your gold bird on the filigree 
chain. Seems to me you’ve more than belongs to 
you — give one to Doris,” said Rick. “ I’ve got 
to go and polish for supper, Nancy. It’s a dandy 
little ball. Too bad marble time is over for this 
year. I’d borrow it! Say, Nancy, let me go! I’ll 
be late, honest! Oh, I’ll take it back! I wouldn’t 
borrow your new marble, not for a minute. And 
it is a peach ; let me go ! ” 

Nancy had caught Rick and pulled him over — 
her quickness making up for her lack of strength — 
and was tickling him to punish him for his implied 
insult to her moonstone ball. Rick could not endure 
being tickled, so he cried for mercy and broke away 
the moment Nancy relaxed her hold of his coat, 
fleeing up the stairs three at a time to his own room 
and safety. 

When Miss Belinda drove up in the open landau, 


56 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


which had replaced the heavy Allaire coach of two 
years before, she found her girl and boy companions 
ready and eagerly waiting for her, not less because 
of their curiosity as to why they were to be shown 
cogs than because they looked forward to the drive 
in the moist warmth, the gray twilight of the May 
evening. 

Mrs. Porter came down to the gate to say how 
do you do to Miss Belinda, and Doctor Porter came 
out to hand his daughter into the carriage. Nancy 
and her father were comrades, as well as father and 
child, but the doctor added to these two relations a 
fine old-fashioned touch of a manly man’s deference 
to a lady in his dealings with Nancy which delighted 
that little lady herself and was sweet for on-lookers 
to see. 

“ I trust that you will find your mysterious cogs 
working well, Miss Belinda,” said the doctor. 
“ Look after Nancy, Rick, if anything bad happens 
to Miss Belinda, or the horses run away so hard 
that Tom can’t hold them.” 

“ Yes, sir; I will,” said Rick, jumping into the 
carriage after Nancy, while Tom, the Allaires’ 
trusty old coachman, smiled gravely and the horses 
may be imagined to have done so, for Bunker Hill 
Monument is as skittish as they were. 


“THE COGGSES” 


57 


These horses now gravely turned the landau 
around and trotted off down the street in their time- 
approved, steady gait. 

“Aren’t we going to the mills, Miss Belinda?” 
asked Nancy, after they had reached the newer town, 
which was called Chagford Falls and which had 
grown up around the mills, called into being by 
their industries. Tom had driven in an opposite 
direction from the turn leading to the mills, and, 
with their heads full of the cogs in machinery which 
they expected to be shown, Nancy and Rick won- 
dered. 

“ No, not to the mills; we are going to see the 
Coggs,” said Miss Belinda, laughing. 

“Aren’t the cogs in the machinery?” asked 
Nancy, longing to ask more, but trying hard to be 
polite. 

“ No. They are in a house, not far from here ; 
you’ll see!” said Miss Belinda, and Nancy dared 
not ask another question, but she and Rick linked 
little fingers to squeeze them, thus conveying to 
each other their “ statiable curtiosity,” like the ele- 
phant’s child’s. 

Tom plainly had driven here before, or had re- 
ceived clear instructions from Miss Belinda where 
to go. He drove straight to a small house, “ plain 


58 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


but neat,” as story books say, and stopped before 
it, turning the horses to allow Miss Belinda and her 
guests to get out easily. 

“Now, then, girl and boy!” said Miss Belinda 
rising, but dropping back into her seat to let Rick 
precede her and turn back to offer her his hand, 
which he did with his own pretty grace — Rick’s 
was a case that would delight people who believe 
that we all inherit our traits. In spite of his friend- 
less early childhood Rick was as naturally charming 
as a little royal prince; his ways were true to- the 
gentle blood in his veins. 

Miss Belinda led the way up the narrow path, fol- 
lowed by Rick and Nancy silently. She knocked 
on the door, but immediately opened it and entered, 
passing at once into the small front room, with 
her friends at her heels. 

Nancy’s quick glance showed her that there was 
little furniture in the room, but it held such un- 
expected human furnishings that neither Nancy 
nor Rick had any thought to spare for wood and 
stuffs. 

Four girls arose from the table around which 
they had been sitting when their guests entered. A 
long carton, nearly emptied of the crackers which 
it had contained, stood on the table, and glasses 



GIRLS.” 


“ ‘ WE SAW YOU COMINC,’ SAID 


OF THE 


ONE 















“ THE COGGSES” 


59 


that had recently held lemonade stood beside it, all 
pushed together toward the centre of the table. One 
of the long-shaped, clumsy magazines published for 
women, and three school books lay on the table; ap- 
parently the four girls had been — should one say 
supping or lunching ? It was too early for an after- 
supper lunch, yet the fare had been too meagre for 
a supper — and at the same time had been improv- 
ing their minds. 

“ We saw you coming/’ said one of the girls, 
“ but we didn’t want to open the door till you rang ; 
it’s eleganter. We hoped you’d ring. The door 
bell’s bust — broke — but when it’s yanked a body 
can hear the wire twitch.” 

“ I’m sorry I didn’t pull it,” said Miss Belinda 
with admirable gravity. “ I’ve brought friends of 
mine to meet you. Nancy, Rick, these are the 
Coggs girls.” 

Nancy laughed. She could not help it, catching 
the twinkle in Miss Belinda’s eye, at the misunder- 
standing she had been under as to the other sort of 
cogs which she had expected to see. 

“ My dears, this is Nancy Porter, the doctor’s 
little girl, of Chagford proper. And this is Richard 
Lovering, whom we all call Rick. Girl and boy, 
two of the Coggs girls are twins and the other two 


60 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


are twins ; two pairs of twins there are in this family, 
which explains their being all four, apparently, the 
same age. Their names are Mary, called Maizie; 
Margaret, called Daisy; Teresa, called Taizie; 
Hazel, called Hazie.” 

In spite of herself Nancy laughed aloud and Rick 
barely checked himself with an unnatural sounding 
cough, at this unexpected jingle of names. 

Nancy crimsoned with mortification over her 
rudeness, but the Coggs girls laughed too. 

“ Laugh if you want to; it’s an awful funny 
bunch of names,” said one of them. “ We go along 
like a count — to find out who’s it, you know! 
This is the way we count when we play something : 

Maizie, Daisy, Taizie, Haze, Coggs and bogs and logs to 
blaze ; 

Maizie, Daisy, Taizie, Hazie, if you’re it you can’t be lazy, — 
I-t, it, go tell the frogs, C-o-g-g-s spells Coggs. You are it ! * ” 

Nancy laughed till she choked, Rick with her, 
and all four of the Coggs girls with them. 

“ I never in all my life! ” declared Nancy recov- 
ering her breath. 

“ No one else never did,” said one of the double 
sets of twins. “ We’re a reg’lar circus. We have 
three pints to every quart of fun, you can bet on 
that.” 


“THE COGGSES” 


61 


Nancy looked at the four girls more attentively. 
They were wonderfully alike ; as Miss Belinda had 
said, they seemed to be the same age. Each had 
reddish hair, but with enough yellow in it to make 
their dancing blue eyes suit their surroundings bet- 
ter than blue eyes generally harmonize with red 
hair. They had large mouths, strong white teeth, 
short noses and a general roundness of feature. 
They were not in the least pretty, yet they were 
attractive because they looked so wholesome, merry 
and pleasant. They spoke incorrectly, and in clear, 
loud voices that carried out the general effect of 
breezy jollity. They were not well-bred, nor well 
educated ; they did not seem to possess “ manners,” 
but behaved precisely as was natural to them. For- 
tunately it was natural to them to behave kindly, 
and their freshness was that of the real meaning 
of the word, not the slang sense — they were not 
a bit shy, nor afraid of any one, but they were gay 
and fresh like a west wind, and their easy ways did 
not suggest impertinence. 

Nancy was wondering how old they were when 
one of the twins said : 

“How old are you, Nancy Porter? Maizie and 
Daisy are fifteen, and Hazie and I are almost four- 
teen.” From which Nancy understood that the 


62 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


speaker was Taizie, and she tried to discover some- 
thing to identify her by as she replied slowly: 

“ I shall not be thirteen until October. I see,” 
she added in her thoughts. “ This one has dark 
eyelashes and her twin has light ones. I’ll know 
Taizie next time ! ” 

“ Well, you’re a nice little kiddie all right,” said 
Daisy heartily. “ I guess you seem so much 
younger’n we do because we’ve been knocking 
around, and it’s easy to see you’re one of the kind 
that are kept in silk-lined cases.” 

“ Knocking around? ” echoed Nancy feebly, feel- 
ing bewildered by these strange acquaintances. 

“ Sure ! ” affirmed Maizie, taking up the con- 
versation. “ Our father died when that other pair 
was two months old, and mother only lived a year 
after that. Then we was taken by a wholesale 
dealer.” 

“ Dealer in what? ” asked Rick, interested in this 
story, like, yet wholly unlike his own. 

“ Wholesale dealer in twins ! ” cried Maizie with 
a laugh; she had expected this question and was 
ready for it. “ She was a good, kind woman, and 
she didn’t have any money, but she took in the whole 
bunch of us, said she guessed four girls could work 
for her after a while. And I guess we could, only 


“ THE COGGSES ” 63 

she died two years ago, before she got much good 
of us.” 

“ And the biggest thing you ain’t heard ! ” cried 
Daisy, taking back her office of story teller. “ Miss 
Allaire knows. A lawyer in New York he found 
out, or thinks he found out, that we’re the grand- 
children of old Peter Debbs, who owns these mills 
at the Falls. That lawyer says mother was his 
daughter. Peter Debbs didn’t have a cent when 
his children was little, so mother she went off 
somewheres to work when she wasn’t grown, and 
she didn’t keep track of her folks. This lawyer says 
she’s our mother — I mean he says mother was 
Peter Debbs’ daughter. So he made us come up 
here and we’re working in the mills while we’re 
waiting to find out who we are. Peter Debbs he 
doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to make up his 
mind we’re his, but if he does find out mother was 
his daughter he told that lawyer he’d do the square 
thing by us. We’ll have oodles of money then, 
and we’re going to buy a big autymobile car with 
one of those sofa — show-for men to run it, and 
we’ll show for a heap ourselves. It’ll be great! 
While we’re waiting we have about as much fun 
planning it out. Ain’t it killing? Just think of us 
Coggses rich ! ” 


64 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ We ain’t got a red cent now, not a red,” said 
Maizie with a strong emphasis on the last word, as 
though the case would be better if cents were any 
other colour. 

“ It’s the queerest story!” Nancy managed to 
say; she was quite overcome by this remarkable 
visit, and what she really thought was that these 
young girls were queerer than their story. But she 
liked them, they were so genuine and merry, kind, 
too; affection for one another shone out of their 
laughing glances as they talked, and the nudges 
that Maizie and Daisy exchanged to punctuate their 
surprising tale were eloquent of it. 

“If we get rich we’re going to have a rousing 
house right here in Chagford, over by Miss Allaire’s, 
I guess,” Taizie said. “ We’re going to keep house 
in it by ourselves, and it’ll be going some — you 
watch us. Come and see us — if we get there.” 

“ I have come to see you here ; you must come 
to see me,” said Nancy, more and more in the dark 
as to what was expected of her. 

“ You’ll need some one to look after you, if you 
do find yourselves the wealthy Misses Coggs,” said 
Miss Belinda, rising to go. 

“ Now, Miss Allaire, we’ve pretty much looked 
after ourselves while we was poor; we’re living 


“THE COGGSES” 


65 


alone now all right, and doing our work to the 
mills, so I guess we hadn’t ought to have a keeper 
when we get rich, if ever we do. We want to have 
fun, and most rich girls get told to don’t all the 
time — we don’t care killing much to be rich that 
way,” said Hazie. 

But Maizie looked thoughtfully at Miss Belinda 
and then at Rick, handsome as a Greek dream of 
the boy Ganymede ; at dainty Nancy, sweet, refined, 
exquisite in every line and motion, and a perception 
of their own lack stole upon this one of the elder 
pair of Coggs twins. 

“ Say, twin Coggses, I suppose we’ll have to get 
a few points if we want to be the real thing,” she 
said. “ And by and by, after we’d had our fun, 
we’d be sorry if we wasn’t the real thing. I’ll tell 
you, Miss Allaire, if Peter Debbs makes up his 
mind we’re belonging to him we’ll get you to give 
us a touch of sandpaper where the bumps are big- 
gest — make us more like that, you know.” Maizie 
Coggs nodded hard at Nancy as if she could not 
understand the allusion, but Nancy blushed and Rick 
laughed, and the other, three Coggs shouted glee- 
fully. 

“ Bravo, Maizie ! ” Miss Belinda approved her. 
“ I think you will see more and more that you want 


66 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

something besides fun if you get installed in the big 
house of your dreams.” 

“ Guess that’s why you brought ’em,” Taizie said 
shrewdly. “ But they’re all right, all right ; I don’t 
mind their being all silk’s long’s they don’t rustle 
themselves.” 

“ Come again ! ” shouted the double twins, as 
Nancy timidly offered her hand and Rick shook 
hands, with the twinkle in his eye that won the 
merry Coggs. 

The four tawny heads nodded and the girls 
watched their guests into the carriage at the gate, 
and saw the big horses trot away, before they came 
back into their little house and shut the door to 
discuss the visit in all its aspects. 

“ Nancy girl, you seem overwhelmed,” laughed 
Miss Belinda, as they went up the dusky street. 

“ Well, you know I was looking for wheel cogs 
and at first they surprised me — and at last they 
surprised me more! I never saw anybody one bit 
like those girls!” said Nancy. 

“ There is no one like them,” agreed Miss 
Belinda. “ They have been poor all their days, so 
they seem much older than they are, for one thing, 
and, for another, their poverty has prevented their 
going to school and has kept them among plain 


“THE COGGSES” 


67 


people, who had no idea of correct speaking, and 
who lacked all book knowledge. Even if Peter 
Debbs is a rich man, and proves to be their grand- 
father, he is a plain man, and these girls have not 
fallen from good family into their poor estate. But 
they are fine girls ; I like them a great deal. There 
isn’t the least doubt that Peter Debbs is their grand- 
father, and they will be enormously wealthy. I 
wanted you to know them before this happens; as 
soon as the old man’s obstinacy is forced to yield, 
which will be soon, these children will have their big 
house and begin the fun they’re planning. If they 
will take a fancy to you, little Nancy, you can help 
them by quiet ways to get transplanted. It will be a 
dangerous time to the four twins; there will be 
plenty of people to flatter them, use them, but make 
fun of the mistakes and queer doings for which 
they are sure to be famous. If you will befriend 
them it will be as great a kindness as it would be to 
feed a poor girl — greater, perhaps, for their danger 
will be greater.” 

“ Of course I will, if I can,” said Nancy doubt- 
fully. “ I felt very little and girlified beside them. 
Mamma will help them, though, and show me how. 
Isn’t their slang funny?” 

“ They are funny in all ways, but very kind and 


68 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


wholesome; you’ll like them. You will be a great 
help using the sandpaper Taizie mentioned,” laughed 
Miss Belinda. 

“ And to-morrow Amabel Willis arrives!” cried 
Rick. “ Won’t that be different, though ! ” 

“ She always was quite a good deal sandpapered,” 
admitted Nancy. “ Being abroad she must be more 
so. There are lots of different people in the world, 
even in Chagford, aren’t there ? ” 


CHAPTER V 


FROM OVER SEAS 

f WO days later Nancy was getting 
ready to go to see Amabel Willis, 
who had arrived in Chagford the 
previous night from her “ extensive 
travels in Europe,” as The Chag- 
ford Daily Rumour put it, record- 
ing the return of the Willis family. 

Nancy had petitioned to wear her newest suit, 
though her mother had not thought it necessary. 

“ Mimi and Doris will wear their best things, 
they said so,” pleaded Nancy. “ After this we shall 
not mind Amabel any more than ever, but when it’s 
our first call on her, after she’s been away, it isn’t 
like just going to see her.” 

Mrs. Porter laughed, but she saw the point, and 
Nancy was in consequence now turning the skirt 
of her latest gown and shaking it, lest it might show 
closet creases. 

It was a green that was almost gray, or a gray 
69 


70 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


that was almost green, cool and springlike in hue, 
and Nancy was greatly pleased with it. 

She threw the skirt over the footboard of her bed 
and examined the coat with its trimming of two 
braids, a green braid darker than the cloth, and the 
tiniest edge of black braid defining its edges, and 
hung that over the back of a chair. 

Next she took her hat from its box and laid it on 
her bed, a soft, drooping white straw it was, with 
crushed bows of a wide gray-green ribbon that 
matched her gown. It had the palest blush roses, 
ready to shed their petals as they lay upon the brim, 
held in place with a black buckle and knot of black 
velvet ribbon that matched the braid on the coat 
and brought out the soft colours of the hat. 

“ It’s a beautiful suit, mamma,” said Nancy, with 
profound satisfaction. “ I really think Amabel 
can’t have seen anything I’d like better in Paris.” 
She brought her brush and her broad black hair 
ribbons to her mother as she spoke and dropped on 
a footstool at her feet, by her action asking to have 
her hair arranged. 

Mrs. Porter loosened the child’s masses of fine 
dark straight hair from its braids, and gathered it 
into her left hand to brush it. 

“Vain little Nancy! Amabel may have seen 


FROM OVER SEAS 


71 


many things in Paris that she would like better,” 
said Nancy's mother. 

“ It's not vain to be pleased when your own 
mother buys you something you would rather have 
than anything,” said Nancy, though she knew that 
her mother had not meant the accusation of vanity. 
“ Mamma, dear, we haven’t been one bit different 
since that man paid papa all that money he owed 
him, and I thought we should be so rich! Will 
those funny Coggs girls be richer than we are ? ” 

“ Oh, my dear, yes ! We are merely the luckiest 
sort of people, removed from either kind of worry, 
the anxiety of lack, or the anxiety of ‘too much. 
Those little Coggs doublets will be absurdly rich. 
You know, dear, I never could burden myself with 
more servants, or rather with a servant, for Letty 
Hetty can’t be called one ! I’m fond of our simple 
manner of living and I’m anxious to keep my priv- 
ilege of using my own kitchen. And, Nancy, your 
dear father does dearly love to be able to give away, 
and not to send in all his bills ! We couldn’t deprive 
him of the happiness, could we, daughter? When 
you are eighteen if you would like a more ceremo- 
nious manner of life, you shall have it, but I confess 
to a love for simplicity.” 

“ I shall never want anything one bit different 


72 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

than I have it now,” declared Nancy. “ What 
makes me love the big house and the stately ways at 
Aunt Mary Lawrence’s, in Boston, and yet love 
our cozy little ways even better? When I go down 
there I enjoy all those servants serving me like a 
princess — I always play I am a princess there — 
but when I get home and am making cake in the 
kitchen, with Letty Hetty talking to me, so nice 
and funny and wise, why, I love this better than a 
palace ! ” 

“ It’s a comfort to hear that, daughterkin ! 
Doctor Porter and his wife are anxious to make 
your home the pleasantest place on earth to you. 
Turn your head the least bit toward the window, 
Nancy; I’m tying your bow crooked. Don’t you 
think you’re happiest here because you belong here, 
and here belongs to you?” asked Nancy’s mother, 
giving a farewell pat to the glossy head which she 
had just adorned with two big bows, one behind 
each ear. 

“ Oh, I don’t know, mamma ! My physician, 
Doctor Mark Porter, has always warned me against 
being prejudiced,” said Nancy gravely, with a 
laugh in her eyes. “ I think I’m fondest of this 
house because it’s the nicest place I know, with the 
very nicest lady in it of all the world ! ” 


FROM OVER SEAS 


73 

46 Base flattery, Ladybird ! Personally I think 
there is no other sort of flattery,” said Mrs. Porter. 
“ I’m sure you are hoping that I will offer to 
straighten the gathers in your waist.” She pulled 
the delicate white waist that Nancy wore under the 
bodice of her skirt into place as she spoke, and 
wheeled the little girl around to fasten her tiny 
circle of pearls in the fine lace that fell around her 
throat. 

Nancy snapped the clasp of the slender gold 
chain that held her new moonstone ball, and set 
her hat on the smooth hair which her mother had 
just brushed and braided. “ Now, if you’ll hold 
my coat, mammady, I’ll be ready to go. I hear 
Mimi and Doris down-stairs talking to Letty Hetty,” 
said Nancy, putting both arms out stiffly behind 
her. Mrs. Porter lifted the coat into its place on 
Nancy’s shoulders, pulled it smooth and buttoned 
it for her as if she had been still her baby. Then 
she lifted the sweet oval face by its chin and kissed 
it. 

“ Have a good time, my darling, a happy time 
and a good time ! ” said Mrs. Porter, as she 
had said to Nancy all her life on her setting 
forth. 

Nancy returned her mother’s kiss and ran down 


74 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

the stairs to find Miriam and Doris coming out of 
the dining-room to meet her. 

“ We were just going to call you,” said Mimi. 
“ Letty Hetty had to brush me ; I took up Bumble- 
bee and got all over hairs — she’s moulting, 
Nancy.” 

“Of course, in the spring,” said Nancy, stooping 
to give the tortoise-shell cat a gingerly stroke on 
her own account. “ I can’t take you, Fred, my 
duckie, because we’re going calling; when Amabel 
has been home a day or two, and we merely go to 
see her, you may go,” she added to her beloved little 
dog, who came with imploring eyes and agitated 
tail begging to be allowed to go. 

“ Are you ready to start? ” ‘asked Doris. 

“ All ready,” said Nancy, noticing that Mimi and 
Doris also were wearing their very best suits, and 
with them the chastened and slightly stiff expression 
that went with them. 

The three little girls walked decorously down the 
path, Letty Hetty seeing them off and at the same 
time consoling Fred for his denial. 

“ You couldn’t half forget English in a year and 
a half, could you ? ” asked Doris after they had 
gone on some distance in silence. 

“ I was thinking that, but how could you? ” said 


FROM OVER SEAS 75 

Mimi. “ You might get to speaking it a little 
queerly, but you couldn’t forget it.” 

“ Dear me, no,” said Nancy. “ Besides, Amabel 
has been travelling with her mother and Louise; 
it isn’t even as if she had been alone in a foreign 
land.” 

“ Well,” said Mimi, with the candour that was 
especially hers, “ I hope Amabel has got more sen- 
sible and nicer. I never got over her doing what 
she did to you when she made the Allaire ladies 
think you were snooping and it was her — she, all 
the time! She should have grown nicer, seeing 
Paris and the Roman form, and all.” 

Nancy stopped short to laugh. “ You mean the 
Roman forum, Mimi ! ” she said, walking on. “ But 
don’t remember that awful time up at the stone 
house ; I want to forget it, I told Amabel it was all 
right. I don’t think it’s quite fair to remember 
what she did when she was a little girl, two years 
ago ; she wouldn’t do it now, I know. Besides, we 
washed it out. I said: ‘Wish. Wash. I-wish-it- 
washed-out ’ to her about it, that day when I went 
to see her and she had scarlet fever, and nobody 
knew it, so I got it. You know none of us ever 
can remember anything when we’ve said ‘ wish, 
wash ’ to it.” 


76 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


This was the formula which Nancy had invented, 
and which she and her three playmates had used 
since their earliest childhood for the doing away 
with misunderstandings. Mimi recognized its 
binding force. “ Well,” she admitted reluctantly, 
“ of course, but — well, maybe Amabel’s come home 
heaps nicer.” 

It was not long before they had a chance to judge. 
They arrived at the Willis house and were admitted 
by the maid, who ushered them into the drawing- 
room and said that she would call Miss Amabel. 
Amabel’s visitors seated themselves and awaited 
their friend, oppressed by this formality. 

In five minutes they heard soft footsteps on the 
stairs. They looked at one another and hastily 
smoothed their skirts down and sat straighter, an 
unnecessary movement, for in an instant they were 
all three on their feet — Amabel was in the room. 

Amabel flew straight to Nancy and put her arms 
around her, giving her a hug that left no room for 
doubt that she was glad to see her — indeed the hug 
was too tight to leave room for anything. Then 
Amabel hugged Mimi and Doris, and then hugged 
all three of the girls over again, beginning with 
Nancy, and then settled down on a chair, taking 
Nancy’s hand and holding it fast. 


FROM OVER SEAS 77 

The four friends looked at one another after 
this, as there had not yet been time to look, suddenly 
turning half shy and wondering how to resume a 
comradeship that had been interrupted for nineteen 
months, and this at an age when interruptions of 
comradeships count, and a half year makes consider- 
able difference. 

Amabel's callers saw that she had grown a great 
deal taller than when they had last seen her. She 
had always been exceedingly handsome, and now, 
although fourteen is an age of “ betwixts and 
betweens ” Amabel was a beauty. There was a 
difference between her and the Chagford little girls, 
partly in her clothes, more in her air and manner, 
but there always had been a difference between her 
and her mates; foreign travel, separation had but 
emphasized it. 

“ What’s the news in Chagford ? ” asked Amabel 
to break the awkward pause following her enthusi- 
astic greeting. 

“ There isn’t anything important that I haven’t 
written you,” said Nancy, as the other two looked at 
her to reply. “ There is going to be something new 
and splendid this summer ; I’m glad you’re home in 
time for it, Amabel. The hospital is to be built 
and we are going to have something magnificent 


78 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


to raise money for it. Nothing is decided yet, but 
it will be a great fair, or. Miss Belinda suggested, a 
pageant of Chagford history. Wouldn’t that be 
glorious? Whatever they have it will be fine. 
We’ll all take part in it and it will be exciting.” 

“ That’s good! ” cried Amabel heartily. “ Some- 
thing ought to be going on here; I’m afraid it 
will be pokey. Next winter I’m going to boarding- 
school, either in Boston, or New York, or some- 
where like that. Oh, girls, maybe I didn’t have fun 
going around to different hotels and seeing all those 
queer cities over there ! Though some of the places 
are real pretty. I’m going again after I finish my 
education. Louise thinks the pictures and statues 
and churches and things were wasted on me. But I 
can tell you I saw enough to drive any one crazy, 
Lots of the pictures aren’t pretty; I’d a lot rather 
have pretty ones than such good ones, but I never 
will let that slip, because I’ve seen so many galleries 
of miles and leagues of paintings that I’d know 
better than to think a pretty picture was good now, 
so it’s done me that much good. You’ll never know 
Louise unless you see her here first. She’s grown 
up for one thing; of course she is eighteen anyway. 
And she’s real pretty, not a beauty, but awfully 
pretty and nice looking. People thought she was 


FROM OVER SEAS 


79 


an English girl when we were travelling; she’s 
rosy and cozy, like an English girl. She’s the one 
for galleries! Mercy, she’s knowing! She’s read 
and worked all over Europe, and an American we 
met over there said she was mistress of all the Old 
Masters. You’ve all grown taller and Mimi’s just 
as round and nice as ever. I think Doris has 
changed most. Nancy, you old darling, you’re not 
killing much taller, but you look ever so much 
stronger. You have colour now. You always 
looked nicer than anybody, ever so much prettier 
than girls who are just pretty. I’m so glad to see 
you — all of you ! ” 

“ Well, we’re glad to see you, Amabel,” said 
Mimi, Nancy being at a loss how to answer these 
comments. “We rather dreaded you, because you 
used to be kind of — kind of — ” Mimi hesitated. 
She was painfully prone to frankness, and frequently 
found herself in a scrape, as now, when she began 
to speak her mind and found that there was that 
in it which would hardly bear unreserved utter- 
ance. 

“ Airy,” said Amabel for her, to her relief, not 
appearing to mind the imputation. “ I’m that way 
still, I suppose, but I don’t care. I’m sure there 
aren’t many people I like better than myself, and 


80 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


what's the use of being handsome and not getting 
the good of it?” 

This made Amabel's visitors gasp. “ Well, 
what’s the use of being anything if you’re vain 
about it? It’s wrong to be vain,” said Doris. 

“ And silly,” added Mimi, whose love of common- 
sense made this seem almost worse to her than 
being wrong. 

“ It’s nice to be nice quietly,” said Nancy. “ Like 
my mother, you know.” 

“ Or like her little girl,” said a voice, and the 
children turned to see a young lady who had come 
into the room unheard. She was pretty, with so 
much kindliness and intelligence in her face that 
she was also most attractive. She had brown hair 
and sunny brown eyes, her face was rather thin than 
otherwise and Nancy, who remembered Louise 
Willis as a round-faced, rosy girl would not have 
known her, as Amabel had predicted, except that, 
finding her here, she knew that this could be no one 
else. 

“ Nancy, dear, I’m delighted to see you again, 
sweetheart,” said Louise, holding out both hands 
as she came forward. 

Nancy put her hands into them, and Louise 
kissed her, drawing her close to do so. 


FROM OVER SEAS 81 

Then Louise kissed Mimi and Doris, and turned 
to Amabel. 

“ Why do you sit here, Amabel ? ” she asked. 
“ Take the girls to your room and show them what 
we’ve brought home with us, at least what has ar- 
rived. You’d rather go up-stairs and see our photo- 
graphs and trinkets than sit here, like swallows on 
the telegraph wires, wouldn’t you, Trio?” 

Nancy laughed and said that she would, as Mimi 
and Doris again turned to her to answer for them. 

“ Come, then,” said Amabel, leading the way up 
the broad stairs to the next floor. Trunks sat 
everywhere, in the hall, in each room whose open 
door they passed. Amabel took her guests into her 
own room, which connected with Louise’s. At- 
tractive disorder reigned ; beds, chairs, table, couch, 
even the floors, were strewn with boxes, garments, 
packages of all sorts. 

“ I don’t know where to begin to show you 
things,” said Amabel. “ Mother bought us lots of 
clothes, things for next winter — -styles over in 
Paris are ahead of here, they say ; anyway she got 
styles that won’t change much. You don’t want to 
see photographs. We have tons of them, but they 
wouldn’t be very interesting, would they? Some 
rainy day come over and spend the day, and I’ll 


82 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


show them to you, and Louise can tell you improv- 
ing things about them ; I couldn’t. That is, if you 
want to be improved; I don’t.” 

“ Doctor Porter has quantities of foreign photo- 
graphs,” said Louise. “ I remember he used to 
show me them and explain them to me, and I owe a 
great deal of the pleasure of this trip to his teach- 
ing. I suspect Nancy would be able to tell you 
more than you know about the photographs you 
have, Amabel.” 

“ That would be easy,” said Amabel, as Nancy 
smiled at Louise and said : 

“ Father and I go to Europe by dry land, as he 
calls it, often and often. We pore over the pictures 
and he tells me what he saw in each place, its history 
— I just love it.” 

“ You’re a lucky little Nancy! I was a lucky 
little Louise when I was your age, to be told some 
of those things by that blessed man! You don’t 
know how impatient I am to see Doctor Porter and 
your dear mother, Nancy!” said Louise. 

Nancy beamed. Something was happening to 
her! She found herself being absolutely charmed 
by this big girl ; she could not keep her eyes from 
her. Louise seemed to Nancy full of all sorts of 
gracious, winning ways, and Nancy began to come 


FROM OVER SEAS 


83 


under her spell with that ardent adoration which a 
little girl of twelve often bestows upon an older 
girl, an adoration that has a powerful influence, for 
good or ill, in the younger one, who copies her 
goddess with all the enthusiasm of her little heart. 

“ I must not stay long now,” said Doris. “ Aunt 
Augusta told me to come home before five.” 

“ Then I’m not going to try to show you things,” 
said Amabel, who evidently was not in the mood for 
exhibition. “ You come again and we’ll take the 
day for it — it would take the biggest part of a day 
to see all we’ve brought home. I’ll just give you 
what I bought for you.” 

Amabel went to her dresser and took boxes out 
of her top drawer. 

“ I bought chains for you and Doris, Mimi ; in 
Florence I got them, because they are almost exactly 
like the chain the Misses Allaire gave Nancy two 
years ago, with that bird. I thought you’d like 
them — I’ve one for myself,” Amabel said, handing 
Doris and Mimi each a small box with the magic 
word : “ Firenze ” stamped on its leather. 

“ I bought the ornament to hang on them in 
Rome; you can wear it as a pin, too, if you like. 
Nancy, I told you I was going to find something 
nice for you, but I didn’t see anything that seemed 


84 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


to say what I wanted it to. But in Venice I found 
this ring. I don’t know whether you’ll like it. 
Louise helped me select it.” 

Nancy had opened the box which Amabel offered 
her and exclaimed. In it lay a curiously carved 
ring, the design wrought by hand with the skill of 
a mediaeval goldsmith. Long folded wings met 
around the ring and in their tips was held a beautiful 
opal, not large, but with fire in its heart, pulsing 
and glowing. The ring was beautiful and ex- 
quisitely carved. Nancy hardly dared breathe lest 
it should disappear. 

“ The wings mean that you nearly died, because 
you were so good, coming to see me when I had 
scarlet fever and you caught it,” explained Amabel 
speaking softly. “ And they are folded wings, 
meaning that you did not fly away to heaven, 
after all. And the fire in the opal means the love 
that was in your heart after I had been so horrible 
to you. Louise found this all out for me, but as 
soon as she told me I saw that it was just the ring 
for you. Please wear it, Nancy.” 

“Wear it! Oh, Amabel, I don’t believe you can 
possibly know how I feel to it ! ” cried Nancy, almost 
ready to cry as she took the ring from its box and 
slowly slipped it on her finger. 


FROM OVER SEAS 


85 


“ How is that wonderful boy, Rick Lovering, and 
his violin ? ” asked Louise of Mimi, to change the 
subject and give Nancy time to recover from her 
emotion over her ring and all it stood for. 

“ Yes, only think ! ” cried Amabel before Mimi 
could reply. “We met a cousin of his in Italy 
and she is a countess! A real countess, and per- 
fectly lovely! The Countess Valtino, she is. She 
was awfully nice to us when she found we knew 
Rick.” 

“ I think we — I must go, Amabel,” said Doris. 
“ There isn’t any use in saying thank you, but what 
else can we say? ” 

“ We can say more when we get our breath and 
have time to know we’re not dreaming,” said Nancy, 
kissing Amabel good-by in a bewilderment of 
rapture. 



CHAPTER VI 


THE LADIES OF THE LAKE 



NOTE for you also, Assistant,” 
said Doctor Porter, giving three 
or four letters into his wife’s hand 
and reserving a small envelope for 
Nancy. She jumped up to get it, 
remarking that she “ did not see 
who could write her, now that Amabel had come 
home.” 

“ Oh, it’s from Miss Belinda Allaire ! ” she added 
when she looked at the address. “ I wonder if she 
doesn’t want to give me my music lesson to- 
morrow.” 

Nancy opened the note, always the shortest way 
to find out what a correspondent has said, and read 
the contents. 

“ Only think ! ” she cried, offering the note to 
her father. “ Those funny Coggs girls are really 
Mr. Peter Debbs’ grandchildren. He has admitted 
the proofs, Miss Belinda says, and now they are 
86 


THE LADIES OF THE LAKE 87 


wildly wealthy. They have bought that great big, 
showy, queer house up near the Allaire place, on 
the lake; the one everybody calls ‘Foster’s Folly,’ 
and they are going to furnish it and live in it — 
just those four girls! It had some furniture in it, 
you know, so they have already moved in. Miss 
Belinda says we must come up and see them, — this 
afternoon, if we can. She says they are warm- 
hearted, nice girls and that somebody must befriend 
them now, or nobody can tell what they’ll do next. 
She wants me to get acquainted with them because 
I won’t laugh at them and tell people about their 
mistakes afterward, and she says they must have 
some one who knows how to speak, and dress and 
do all sorts of things, because they’ve such an 
enormous lot of money to spend that it will make 
a great difference what they do. I think I’m too 
young for them; the second pair of twins is older 
than I am, but they seem older than they are.” 

“ I have been hearing about these children for 
several days, but I waited to tell you what I heard 
till they were established in their house, and then 
I thought that we would all go up to see them,” 
laughed Doctor Porter. “ Will you go this after- 
noon, Mildred? It really is a sort of duty. The 
Allaires are good women. Everybody would see 


88 NANCY, THE DOCTOR'S PARTNER 


the duty of feeding the hungry, but not every one 
would try to guide these youngsters into good taste 
and the wise use of wealth. Yet this is as great a 
charity as the other. It will make a difference, not 
only to themselves, but to the world around them, 
if they use that great fortune discreetly and help- 
fully.” 

“ Surely, Mark,” agreed Mrs. Porter. “ Yes, I 
will go up there with you. If they would take a 
fancy to Nancy we could help them greatly, through 
her.” 

The doctor shook his head discouragedly. 
“ Nancy makes more enemies than friends,” he 
sighed. “ I’m afraid our well-meant scheme will 
fail.” 

Nancy ran over and pulled the dubious head, the 
big head that held so much wisdom, down where 
she could rumple its thick iron gray hair and punish 
it with cuffs as usual. “ I wouldn’t make so many 
enemies if I weren’t known all over the three 
Chagfords as 4 the Doctor’s Little Girl;’ it preju- 
dices people, because everybody in Chagford 
hates you and don’t trust you one bit when they’re 
> ill!” she cried, peering into her father’s face to 
make sure that he understood the giving of tit for 
tat. 


THE LADIES OF THE LAKE 89 


That afternoon Tonic in the surrey took the 
doctor, his wife and Nancy up the pretty “ lake 
drive ” to visit the remarkable new owners of the 
gimcrack palace which had been built, regardless of 
expense and taste, by a man who had grown sud- 
denly rich and had as suddenly lost his new wealth. 
He was a man named Foster, which was the reason 
that the house, that had been taken by some of his 
creditors for debt, was called in Chagford “ Foster’s 
Folly.” 

The house rose up out of its surrounding trees — 
the situation was beautiful and June was making 
this evident — as the doctor’s family drove toward 
it. Turns of the road revealed and shut it from 
sight alternately. At last it stood fully disclosed, 
yellowish, with pointed rounding towers on each 
corner. Stonework, fancy shaped shingles, un- 
expected windows, some of them Gothic, some of 
them rounded, one large Elizabethan oriel window 
protruding on the second floor, flanked on the cor- 
responding side by a modern French window, all 
united to make an extraordinary hodge-podge of 
extravagance and bad taste. 

“ It does seem a pity that their natural guardians 
— or unnatural legal guardians — couldn*t have 
prevented these queer little heiresses from buying 


90 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


such a monstrosity as that. But they probably are 
delighted with it, and by the time they are taught to 
judge architecture they may have got the worth of 
its price in pleasure, and get rid of it again,” re- 
marked Doctor Porter, gently suggesting a better 
pace to Tonic. Tonic took the hint and came up 
the driveway on a trot faster than his usual 
gait. 

Nancy said that she thought it was because he 
wanted to avoid seeing the cast iron “ deers and 
dogs and things,” which dotted the lawn, that he 
dashed passed them, or “ dashed for Tonic,” she 
added conscientiously. 

The doctor got out of the carriage and gave his 
hand to his wife and Nancy in turn, but got in again 
to drive off, for his duties did not allow him to share 
this call. Before the surrey had more than fairly 
turned and started, the door of the fantastic house 
opened and one of its four mistresses stood within 
the space: Nancy could not possibly tell which 
twin it was. 

“ Well, hallo, Nancy Porter!” cried this Miss 
Coggs. “ Say, you’re great to come right up ; Miss 
Allaire said she was going to tell you we was here. 
We moved in yest’day. Come in.” 

“This is my mother — ” Nancy hesitated, and 


THE LADIES OF THE LAKE 91 


the girl laughed, putting out her hand, with 
warmth and perfect certainty of friendliness, to 
Mrs. Porter. 

“ I’m Daisy,” she cried. “ I’d bet one of those 
deers out there you couldn’t tell who I was ! 
Nobody ever can till they get used to us. You’re 
awful kind to come along, ma’m; I’m sure I’m 
glad to see you. Come right in this way. This is 
our drawing-room, so they say, but there ain’t either 
of us much at drawing. If I did get at it I’d rather 
take work like that up-stairs, out of the way, in case 
we got comp’ny.” 

Mrs. Porter repressed a smile and Nancy dropped 
behind till she could recall hers. Daisy threw open 
the door of the drawing-room triumphantly. It had 
little furniture in it, but that little was gorgeous to 
look upon, gilded frames, covered with blue and 
yellow tapestry, with odd chairs of blue velvet, 
tables carved and gilded, and a long gilt mirror at 
one end of the room. 

“ We bought this house with what there is in 
it,” said Daisy proudly. “ We think it’s about the 
finest, but when we get sick and tired of the 
furniture we’re a-going to get stuff of our 
own, and maybe it won’t be worth going miles 
to see! I’ll go call the rest of the bunch; just 


92 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


you wait — please.” She added the last word 
as an after-thought, hurrying away as she 
spoke. 

When she returned it was fifteen minutes later, 
and the other three young heiresses were with her. 
Daisy had changed her gown, and they were all four 
clad in marvellous garments — silks and velvets, 
princess gowns, each a different colour, with facings 
and trimmings of still other colours, and jewelry, 
that was entirely visible to the naked eye, dangling 
joyfully from each throat, catching up ends of lace 
and adorning the fingers that were unyouthfully 
hardened by honest work. 

The girls looked so blissfully happy and sure of 
being suitably clad that Mrs. Porter felt her heart 
warm to them. They were enjoying the sensation 
of having money to spend just as children enjoy 
the riches of a field of dandelions — and they were 
putting flashy jewelry on their persons with the 
same lavish delight that children feel in making 
festoons of the dandelion’s golden blossoms to hang 
over their pinafores. Mrs. Porter was no more 
repelled by this simplicity than she would have been 
in the case of the children in the fields. Indeed she 
felt an instant liking and pity for these girls, only 
slightly older than Nancy, who had so much to 



DAISY COGGS 

















































































. 







































































THE LADIES OF THE LAKE 93 


learn and whose way would be beset by dangerous 
friends as well as foes. 

“How do you do?” said Nancy, with the em- 
barrassment of her first meeting with the double 
twins intensified by their splendour. “ My mother 
came to see you with me. Mamma, this is Maizie 
Coggs, Taizie and Hazie — Daisy is the one we 
first saw. Girls, this is my mother, Mrs. Porter.” 

“ I am glad to meet you, my dears,” said Mrs. 
Porter. “ Nancy told me about you, and I am glad 
that your wonderful story is coming to a happy 
end.” 

“It’s only just beginning!” cried Hazie rather 
cleverly. 

“Ain’t it just like a story!” exclaimed Maizie. 
“ That’s what I say, too. Why, I’ve been to plays 
— up in the nigger heaven for a quarter — and 
seen things not half so much good as this play is, 
with us four for the leading ladies! Gee, when I 
think it won’t be as hard now for us to buy two 
dollar seats in the orkrester for all of us as ’twas 
for one of us to raise a quarter to go up in the 
peanut gallery — well, now ! ” 

Maizie stopped for lack of words to express how 
this struck her. 

“ You poor little girls,” cried Mrs. Porter, in her 


94 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


sweet, motherly sincere way that won every child 
that ever knew her, and made all Nancy’s friends 
agree that Nancy Porter’s mother was the dearest 
one possible. “ I can imagine how you must feel ! 
Just like four bewildered little bees, fairly tipsy with 
the honey you find in a great blooming field that 
hasn’t a spot that isn’t loaded with flowers! It’s 
like the happiest fairy story ! I’m glad you’ve found 
your grandfather and he has found you.” 

Maizie Coggs and all the other Coggs beamed on 
Mrs. Porter. They were easily won, for they were 
friendly creatures, but Nancy saw instantly that her 
mother had worked her usual spell upon them. And 
she was right. From this first meeting to the end 
of their lives these four girls would have main- 
tained against all comers that there was no one on 
earth like Mrs. Porter — unless it was the doctor 
and Nancy! 

Taizie took up the story now. “ When it comes 
to Peter Debbs, he ain’t wild over us, nor we ain’t 
crazy about him,” she said. “ He only gave in to 
being our grandfather because he had to ; the lawyer 
showed him ’twas so, and he couldn’t get out of it. 
And we don’t know him. He don’t love us and he 
ain’t asking us to love him.” 

“ No. He told us he didn’t want we should live 


THE LADIES OF THE LAKE 95 


with him, and land knows we didn’t want to be tied 
up, if we could help it! He told us he hoped we 
wouldn’t make fools of ourselves, getting so much 
money when we’d been so poor. He said he s’posed 
we would, though; said there was a saying about 
putting a beggar on horseback,” Daisy supple- 
mented her. 

“ So that’s another reason why we don’t want to 
make fools of ourselves,” remarked Maizie dispas- 
sionately. “ We went to Boston and bought us some 
clothes.” She made a motion toward the front of 
her gorgeous gown and tried to look modest. 

“ We got a woman over to the Falls to go along; 
she was a real nice woman and she never had any 
fun, nor saw any nice things to wear, I guess, so 
we took her with us to help us pick out. We didn’t 
buy a thing that wasn’t silk, ’cept velvet; we’re 
a-going to wear things like that, even dusting up 
and cooking.” 

“ Well, I guess we ain’t going to cook and dust, 
Maizie Coggs ! ” exclaimed Taizie indignantly. 
“ When we can find ’em, we’re going to have serv- 
ants, and chiefs to cook. We ain’t got ’em yet, only 
one woman the lawyer made us have here with us,” 
she added to Mrs. Porter. 

“ Don’t you think it would be rather nice add 


96 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


homelike not to use all the rooms in this big 
house at once ? ” suggested Mrs. Porter gently. 
“ Wouldn’t it be troublesome to begin housekeep- 
ing with a great many servants? You know you 
are only little girls, after all, and even I — an old 
housekeeper like me — dreads the bother of servants 
so much, that we live quite simply and have but 
one — and she is rather a friend to all of us than a 
servant! Why not begin easily this summer, and 
wait to do big things till you’ve found out what you 
want to do? Two good servants, and shut off part 
of the house — wouldn’t that be easier? It’s so 
nice to be free from bother ! ” 

“ Wouldn’t you like to cut a dash if you’d been 
poor like us?” asked Hazie of Nancy. “ I’ve been 
kinder ’f raid- we was going in too deep, but all of 
us wants to see things hum. Wouldn’t you have a 
big blow-out of a house right off?” 

Nancy shook her head. “ I’d rather have every- 
thing nice and quite beautiful, but not too big,” she 
said. “ I wouldn’t know how to run a big house 
beautifully. I’d rather learn, before I had one, 
and — well, wouldn’t it be nice to study and — 
and — ” 

“ Copy nice folks before you tried to be a fine 
lady?” cried Hazie as Nancy hesitated. 


THE LADIES OF, THE LAKE 97 


“ Girls, what did I tell you ? Didn’t I say you 
could see, if you kept your eyes open, that we’d got 
to have heaps of things besides silks and velvets and 
autymobiles and show-fors?” 

“ Yes,” admitted Daisy reluctantly. “ I guess 
that’s right, too. I’ve been seeing Miss Allaire with 
my eyes open — and others.” She made a wonder- 
ful pantomime at her sisters that plainly meant 
that she considered the young and the older ex- 
amples before her desirable models. 

“ Nancy Porter, would you be a friend of ours? ” 
demanded Taizie suddenly. “ I mean a real friend, 
not one of the coming-to-see-you-won’t-you-come^ 
to-see-me sort.” 

“ Yes, I will,” said Nancy, flushing. 

“ Now, hold on! ” cried Taizie. “ You’re getting 
into a job! I know we’re going to be a funny lot 
and I know folks’ll say so. I don’t want you should 
say you’ll be a friend of us, if you’re a-going to 
be ashamed, and go back on us when we make 
breaks.” 

“ I don’t intend to,” said Nancy emphatically. 
“ I like you, all four of you. I’d have to like all 
four of you if I liked one, for you’re all just alike! 
I’ll bring Mimi and Doris to see you — that’s 
Miriam Hunt and Doris Clark, my dearest friends 


98 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

— and you know Rick Lovering, who is the dearest, 
finest, real old-time knight of a boy on earth ! And 
I’ll bring — ” She paused, intending to have said 
“ Amabel Willis,” but stopped in time, remembering 
how snobbish Amabel had been about Rick when 
she had thought him poor and friendless. “ I’ll 
bring any one else you’ll like to know, and I’ll be 
really your friend — and I’ll take you to Grandma 
Emerson’s, and that’s the nicest place to go. Yes, 
I’ll be really your friend ! ” 

The four twins shook hands earnestly with Nancy 
to bind this pledge. 

“All right; that’s settled,” said Taizie con- 
tentedly. “ I know that’s another piece of luck for 
us. We all got a terrible crush on you when you 
came to see us over at the Falls. And no matter 
if we do make breaks, the girls’ll be glad enough 
to know us when we get our autymobile and the 
show-for and take ’em riding. And when we get a 
chief to cook for us, and give parties with things 
to eat that’ll beat anything you can get in Chag- 
ford,” added Taizie astutely. “ I guess rich folks 
don’t never need to be lonesome.” 

“ No, but we want one or two friends that ain’t 
hanging around just for the autymobile and the 
chief’s cooking,” said Hazie. “ And I, for one, do 


THE LADIES OF THE LAKE 99 


want we should have the right folks to copy. 
We’ve got Miss Allaire now; she’s the real 
thing.” 

“ Will you show us something once in a while, 
Mrs. Porter?” asked Maizie, with a note of dif- 
fidence in her voice that was more attractive than 
the breezy confidence of her first manner. 

“ Indeed, my dear little, queer little quartette, 
I’ll gladly show you anything that you will let me 
show you 1 ” cried Mrs. Porter, so heartily, so 
kindly that the twins looked as if they could hug 
her. “ You’ll be ever so much more than merely 
rich girls, if you see that you need to learn a little 
more than you now know, and are ready to be 
taught.” 

“ That’s it ! ” cried Maizie. “ I think we ought 
to be more than just rich girls. We haven’t had our 
money more’n a week and two days, and we’ve only 
got into this house, and been down to Boston shop- 
ping once, but I declare to gracious, things don’t 
hardly any of ’em look the same to me ! It’s awful 
queer. I want we should learn how to talk, and 
act, and dress, and run a house, and — yes, sir ! 
and do something for somebody else that’s poor 
like we was. Ain’t it funny ! ” 

“ It’s very, very beautiful that you are feeling 


100 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


this so soon ! ” cried Mrs. Porter rising and putting 
her arm around Maizie. “ You are going to be 
kind, true, happy, helpful girls. I’m really thank- 
ful to see that you are so honest and so real. For, 
my dears, it is not all play to have great wealth. 
The greater one’s wealth, the greater one’s chance 
to do good, and the greater the danger of doing 
harm. We’ll strike a bargain on the spot: you 
shall adopt me, and this little Nancy of mine, and 
that will mean that you adopt the doctor — and you 
never could find in all this world a better friend 
than Doctor Porter will be to you. And you will 
love him dearly, won’t they, Nancy? And we will 
adopt you, and together we shall make you as safe 
as you are happy. Because, dear funny, double 
twins, you will not know till years from now how 
many chances there were for you to come to grief, 
getting so much money when the oldest of you was 
but fifteen.” 

“ Well, sir, if you ain’t the dearest lady in this 
world ! ” cried Maizie, falling on Mrs. Porter bod- 
ily. “ You’d better believe we’ll strike that bar- 
gain! Because we ain’t so blind we can’t see a 
thing or two! We don’t worry about what we 
ain’t, but we know we don’t talk right, and don’t 
know much, and you and Nancy are the real thing 


THE LADIES OF THE LAKE 101 


— like Miss Allaire. We’re awful glad you’ll be 
friends of us.” 

The other three girls followed Maizie’s example 
and hugged Mrs. Porter. That warm-hearted 
woman was becoming quite enthusiastic over these 
crude children, with their mixture of simplicity and 
sharpness, their happy satisfaction with themselves 
and their world, combined with a shrewd sense of 
other people’s advantages, and desire to improve. 

“ They’ve been poor and ignorant, but they are 
not ordinary,” thought Mrs. Porter, always de- 
lighted to see the best in every one. 

“ We was going to show you our house,” said 
Taizie turning to Nancy. “It’s a crackerjack! 
Awful big rooms, and hand-painted ceilings and 
things like that all over. Say, think of it’s being 
the Coggses’ ! ” 

“ And, say, Mrs. Porter,” chimed in Daisy, 
“ don’t, please, go to advising us to cut out all the 
spread! We’ve got to go some, at first, anyhow; 
we’ve been planning it, and we’ve been poorer’n 
knotty pine boards all our lives ! ” 

“ Surely, I won’t! Will we, Nancy? You funny 
children ! But I understand your longing to march 
to a brass band for a while, and not for the world 
would I prevent it,” cried Mrs. Porter, with such 


102 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


sympathy that Daisy actually patted her on the 
back, words failing to express her gratitude. 

“ We can’t see the house now, Taizie,’ 1 ’ said 
Nancy. “ I heard father telling Tonic to whoa.” 

“ Then we must hurry away,” said Mrs. Porter. 
“ Will you come to me if you need help? ” 

“ And will you all come to see me to-morrow, 
even if you don’t?” added Nancy. 

The four Coggs girls came out to see their guests 
away. Doctor Porter’s face was a study when he 
saw their garments and their jewels, but Nancy 
turned back to throw them kisses and to receive 
them till Tonic had rounded the gateway. Mrs. 
Porter laughed long, softly to herself, remember- 
ing the children and their picturesque manners and 
speech, their comic grandeur. “ But they are dia- 
monds, if they are rough ones, Mark,” she said in 
reply to her husband’s inquiring look. 

“ I like them,” said Nancy warmly. “ I wonder 
how the other girls will get on with them, though ! ” 
In reality “ the other girls ” meant Amabel. 



CHAPTER VII 


nancy’s coming-out party 

ELL, Nancy,” said the doctor, pausing 
in the hall to put on his gloves, and 
arresting his daughter’s rapid prog- 
ress from library to dining-room, 
“ I suppose Tonic and I need not hope 
for your companionship to-day ? ” 

“ No, indeed! I shall be busy all the morning 
and busier all the afternoon,” replied Nancy, flour- 
ishing a duster at her father. “ I’m going to 
try to make this a particularly nice little party, be- 
cause Amabel — oh, because I am ! ” 

“ That’s a first rate reason, Dame Trot : I hope 
you will succeed — with Mrs. Porter’s help. It’s a 
little more difficult than you imagine, Assistant, to 
make people swallow their medicine, or admin- 
ister doses to others. Remember, I warned you! 
Good-bye, Mortar and Pestle, as well as Assistant 
— mixing up ingredients for social health ! ” Doctor 
Porter laid the hand that still lacked its glove on 
103 



104 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


Nancy’s head for an instant, till she lifted it off her- 
self and rubbed her cheek against its back. 

Then the doctor went on his morning way, and 
Nancy resumed her preparations for an afternoon 
party which she was giving to launch the Coggs 
among the Chagford girls. She was not asking 
many to meet them, only Mimi, Doris and Amabel, 
with Cord, because Cord would so like to come, and 
Louise Willis, because Nancy felt the need of her. 
And, because it was not an every-day occasion, but 
one dealing with girls who needed nice friends, 
Grandma Emerson was coming at Nancy’s request. 
Grandma Emerson, Nancy instinctively knew, 
would tide her over hard moments, should there be 
any, and, with Mrs. Porter, save the day if it were 
in danger of being lost. 

Letty Hetty was baking for Nancy’s guests, ma- 
king her famous little lemon tarts that she called 
Chess Cakes — the doctor said, “ because they were 
worth a pawn anywhere, for a large sum, too ” — 
there was no other reason for their name. But called 
by any name, the girls would have devoured them 
as eagerly as they did now. And Letty Hetty had 
made lettuce sandwiches, and set them away on the 
ice, which were all a sandwich should be, and she 
had made delicious little thin sponge cakes to be 


NANCY’S COMING-OUT PARTY 105 

eaten with the ice cream which she had risen at 
dawn to make — and, as Letty Hefty said : “ There 
wasn’t any cream could beat hers, if she did say it, 
who shouldn’t.” 

Mimi and Doris arrived first, being consumed with 
curiosity as to the double twins, who were hero- 
ines of such a strange story, and about whom the 
wildest rumours were floating around Chagford. 
Louise and Amabel came but ten minutes later, and 
Cord was running frantically down the street be- 
hind them, vainly trying to catch up with them be- 
fore they reached the house. 

It was a warm day, the first downright excessive 
heat of the summer, and Nancy looked particularly 
pale in her white gown in contrast to the heated 
faces of her guests. She had taken their hats and 
carried them all into the small room off the library 
where hung the portrait of the first Nancy Porter, 
this Nancy’s great-grandmother, the picture that 
was this Nancy’s friend and confidante, for which 
she cherished a feeling that she would never have 
expresed to any one. When she was in doubt or 
trouble she came to sit silently before her great- 
grandmother’s portrait to get counsel and consola- 
tion. 

Now Nancy neatly laid Mimi’s white leghorn on 


106 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


Doris’ sailor — Doris’ aunt disapproved of “ fancy 
things ” for little girls — and put Amabel’s pale 
blue chip beside them, with Louise’s butter-coloured 
straw alone, because Louise was fast becoming to 
Nancy a star in the firmament. Cord never wore 
a hat at all; her black locks would not have been 
harmed by bleaching in the sun, but Cord would 
have been harmed, in her own opinion, by one addi- 
tional burden that she could escape, queer little un- 
tamable, gypsy Cord! 

“ Please teach me to make the girls good to the 
Coggs,” whispered Nancy Porter to her grand- 
mother’s portrait, in the half-playful, half-prayerful 
way that she always had recourse to her. 

Then she ran back to the drawing-room where 
she found her four younger guests sitting in stiff 
anticipation, waiting for the coming of what might 
be called “ the attraction ” of the afternoon, bor- 
rowing theatrical terms. Louise was chatting hap- 
pily with Mrs. Porter of her recent trip, forgetful 
of the great reason of her coming. 

“ They’re late, aren’t they ? ” said Doris at once. 
“ I wonder if they want us to see the automobile 
they have! I heard they had bought a car. Only 
think, girls two years older than we are, or a little 
more, and the second pair a year older than us ! ” 


NANCY’S COMING-OUT PARTY 107 


“ They did buy a car,” said Nancy. “ A beauty. 
And papa got them to take Stephen’s brother to run 
it, because Stephen has taken care of Tonic so long 
we know just how trusty he is, and papa says his 
brother Elijah is just like him. Papa told the 
Coggs girls they couldn’t drive around without a 
chaperon, unless they had some one settled and care- 
taking, like Elijah, to drive the car — not a chauf- 
feur nobody knew. Elijah is a good mechanic, too, 
and he learned all about automobiles in a Boston 
garage, and everybody in Chagford knows all about 
him. So they listened to papa — they’re sweet 
about listening to mamma and papa — and they’ll 
be down in the new car, with Elijah to drive it, 
when they come.” 

“ Don’t you suppose they’re late on purpose to 
kind of show off to us? ” hinted Doris. 

Amabel sat by wearing a detached and non-com- 
mittal expression. 

“ No, indeed!” cried Nancy warmly. “That 
isn’t like them. They’d want to take us all out, but 
they’re not the kind of girls to try to show off. 
There they are ! ” 

A long, slender motor car, painted a dark maroon, 
rushed at Doctor Porter’s gate, decided to spare it 
and curved away slightly as it came to a stop. Out 


108 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


of it jumped, one after the other, the four Coggs 
twins, at whom the waiting girls seized the oppor- 
tunity to look while Nancy was gone to let them in. 

They saw nothing especially striking in this first 
scrutiny. Nancy had advised the Coggs to wear 
white to her party, and they had done so. Their 
hats were large and striking; they were all four 
considerably awry from the jolting ride down, and 
they produced the disorderly effect that motors al- 
ways give big hats, but except for this and that the 
girls wore long silken coats, quite unsuited to their 
age, “ the ladies of the lake,” as Doctor Porter had 
dubbed the heiresses in their lake-side residence, 
were much like any other big, blowsy girls. 

Nancy took these comers straight up to her own 
room to repair their hairdressing. 

When they came down in a line behind their 
slender little hostess they were in order. Their 
white gowns were most elaborate and they wore all 
their new jewelry, but otherwise they looked well. 

Mrs. Porter came forward to greet them, hold- 
ing Louise by the hand. “ We’re glad to see you, 
my dears,” said Nancy’s mother, quietly, taking the 
hand of each in turn and kissing her cheek, though 
the twins presented their lips enthusiastically. 

“ This is Miss Willis, the Misses Coggs, Miss 


NANCY’S COMING-OUT PARTY 109 


Maizie, Miss Daisy, Miss Taizie, Miss Hazie. And 
these are Miss Amabel Willis, Miss Miriam Hunt, 
Miss Doris Clark. Children, you know that these 
are the Misses Coggs. We will play the first game 
of this afternoon now: You are to guess which is 
which of the Coggs twins ! ” 

“ Pleased to meet you,” murmured each and every 
Coggs in so exactly the same manner that it was 
comically plain to Mrs. Porter that they had re- 
hearsed this bit of convention. 

“ Nancy,” added Taizie Coggs at once to her 
hostess, “ that new autymobile is elegant. Just you 
wait till you try it! We’ll take all of you riding,” 
she added hospitably to Nancy’s other guests. 

Mimi and Doris looked pleased, but Amabel drew 
herself up and turned away her head. Louise 
smiled and said heartily : “ Thank you. That’s 

kind, Miss — ” 

“ Taizie, and cut out the miss,” said Taizie. “ If 
we’re a-going to be well acquainted, through Nancy, 
what’s the use of miss? Don’t mention it,” she 
added suddenly, plainly recalling what some one had 
told her was the proper reply to a “ thank you.” 

“ And, Nancy, Mr. Riggs is great; he’s an awful 
careful, kind show-for.” 

Mr. Riggs? Elijah? Oh, yes; I know he is,” 


110 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


said Nancy hastily. Her pallor had gone; in its 
place was the flush of a struggle not to smile. 

“ We are going to play games/’ Nancy went on, 
“ that is if you’d all like to, and will say what sort 
of games you know.” 

“ It’s so warm to play, isn’t it? ” asked Aipabel. 
“ I’d rather hear the Misses Coggs tell us about 
their adventures, shopping in Boston, or something 
interesting. You must have lots of interesting sto- 
ries to tell, if you will,” she added, turning to the 
twins. 

“ I guess we have! ” cried Taizie, with her jolly 
loud laugh. But Daisy was sharper. “ The most 
interesting thing we seen was some animals that 
done — did tricks,” she said. “ Maybe you’d like to 
hear about them ? ” 

Nancy’s colour mounted higher. She was glad 
that Daisy had not let Amabel draw her sister out, 
but she was sorry that Daisy was sharp enough to 
see Amabel’s motive in asking for stories from them, 
and she regretted the bad English that she knew 
would be laughed at later. 

“Aren’t games more fun than stories?” she 
asked. 

Louise came to her rescue. 

“ We’ll play ‘ What will you give for my old bach- 


NANCY’S COMING-OUT PARTY 111 


elor’s breakfast/ ” she said. “ We can play that sit- 
ting down ; it will be cool and easy to learn, in case 
one of us doesn’t know it. Take us out under the 
trees, Nancy dear — may we go out, Mrs. Porter? ” 

Mrs. Porter smiled gratefully at Louise as she 
said yes, so the ten girls of varying sizes started 
out to the shade of a little grove of maples where 
Nancy’s hammock hung. 

“ There’s Grandma Emerson ; I began to think 
she wasn’t coming!” cried Nancy. “ Please ex- 
cuse me a moment. Louise, will you go on with 
the girls ? ” 

Nancy ran across the grass, around the side of the 
house, to the gate to meet the little old lady coming 
briskly up the street, her small silk bag swinging, 
her step light, in spite of the heat. 

“ Oh, dear Grandma Emerson, I was afraid you 
made up your mind you wouldn’t play with me any 
more!” cried Nancy. “ Mamma’s in the house; 
she’ll meet you in there, but do, please, hurry out 
to join all the rest of the girls. We’re going to 
play something, out in the grove, and I’ve an idea 
we need somebody to hold us together.” 

“ Like flour? ” suggested Grandma Emerson, pat- 
ting Nancy’s encircling arm. 

“ Like f-l-o-w-e-r,” laughed Nancy. “ I always 


112 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


did say you were like some sort of a cheerful little 
blossom, dear little Grandma ! ” 

“ You little chip of the blarney stone! It must 
be an everlasting then ! ” said Grandma Emerson 
with her merry little chuckle. 

Nancy ran back to her guests, and in a few min- 
utes Grandma Emerson came out to join them. 
Nancy introduced the Coggs twins to her, and 
watched Grandma Emerson to see how they struck 
her. Grandma Emerson had a little trick of the lips 
that betrayed to those who knew her well her im- 
pression of new acquaintances. 

Now Grandma Emerson only smiled kindly, and 
the double twins gave their hands to her with a 
friendly confidence that was winning. 

“Your mother can’t join you here, Nancy; she 
is occupied within doors,” said Grandma Emerson. 
“ Rick has come in and will be here shortly. Are 
you going to play games, did you say? ” 

“ What will you give for my old bachelor’s break- 
fast? ” asked Nancy promptly, and Grandma Emer- 
son instantly replied that she would “ give six slip- 
pery shrimps.” 

So the game was started. The Coggs did not 
know how to play it, but it is not a difficult game 
to learn and they all four contributed articles to the 


NANCY’S COMING-OUT PARTY 113 


hungry bachelor which were desirable, because they 
were hard to mention without laughing. 

But Amabel played disdainfully. Her contribu- 
tion was marmalade, and nothing could induce her 
to alter it to something more humourous. Louise 
frowned at her, but Amabel would not see her. Her 
listlessness threw a damper on the rest, who started 
out with screams of laughter, but soon found no 
difficulty in replying to Nancy’s questions without 
laughing. 

“Oh, here’s Richie at last!” cried Nancy, re- 
lieved to see the boy coming with his violin under 
his arm. 

“ Glad to see you again,” said Rick to the Coggs’ 
hearty greeting. “ I’m sorry I had to be so late, 
Nancy, but one of the boys got into a scrape, and 
I was kept to explain about it after school.” 

“ Did you tell on him? ” demanded Taizie Coggs 
scornfully. 

“ Oh, no ; that’s what made me so late : Mr. 
Harding was trying to get me to talk,” said Rick, 
so simply that everybody laughed, except the boy 
himself, who had not intended to be humourous. 

“ Do you suppose it is too warm to dance ? ” 
asked Nancy. 

“ It’s never too warm for that,” said Doris, whose 


114 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


strict up-bringing made her fonder of dancing than 
the others who could dance at home. 

Rick played the violin wonderfully; each year 
that he lived something more developed of his ex- 
traordinary musical talent. Now he shouldered his 
instrument, softly tried the strings close to his ear, 
altered a peg or two in the tuning and began to play. 

The effect was electrical; even Amabel jumped 
to her feet as quickly as the others, and put her 
hand on Mimi’s shoulder to dance the barn dance. 
Nancy and Doris followed behind this pair, but the 
Coggs girls waited, prancing as they stood, but not 
daring to undertake it. 

“ We must dance too!” cried little Grandma 
Emerson. She had watched the children too often 
not to be familiar with the dance, even if in her 
younger days she had not learned the military schot- 
tische which has reappeared under the less pictur- 
esque name. 

“ I’ll show you ! Little running steps, in time to 
the music, and then a little kick, not too much, lively, 
but not rough. Watch them. Now you try it.” 

The kind little old lady, who never would grow 
old, actually took Maizie Coggs’ hand and started 
her down the grass, putting her through the steps 
fairly successfully. 


NANCY’S COMING-OUT PARTY 115 


Maizie transferred herself to one of her sisters, 
and the other two started together, but Nancy 
dropped Doris’s arm, and bidding her dance with 
Taizie, she herself took Daisy for a partner, Louise 
danced with Hazie, and Grandma Emerson, heated 
and short of breath, bravely resumed work with 
Maizie, till that kindly girl said : 

“ Now, I’ve got it down fine. Don’t you dance 
one more step. Go get cool. You’re awful kind; 
thanks. I’ll take Cord, now you’ve learned me.” 

Grandma Emerson was glad to be released, and 
sank panting into her chair. The girls kept on dan- 
cing till they, too, were tired and dropped into 
lounging positions on the grass. Richard kept on 
playing. There was something in his music of the 
quality of the Pied Piper’s ; it set feet in motion. 

“ Oh, say, keep that up ! ” cried Daisy Coggs, 
leaping up. “ We’ll show you something great. 
It ain’t a real dance, not a dancing-school dance. 
We learned it off some Hungarians where we used 
to live. That music’s just right. Keep it up! 
Come on, Coggses ! ” 

“ The Coggses ” certainly came on. Rick was 
playing a mazurka, classical, yet full of the wildness 
of the steppers, and its magical rhythm bewitched 
the twins. 


116 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


They danced — and how they danced ! Swing- 
ing, swaying, flinging arms, sometimes leaping a 
little way off the grass, sometimes throwing their 
feet out in gay little kicks — their audience had 
never seen anything like it. 

Doris and Mimi and Cord watched this dance, 
literally open-mouthed with admiration, Nancy mar- 
velled, half admiring, half doubtful of it, altogether 
dreading the judgment of Amabel, who looked on 
scornfully, not trying to conceal her opinion that 
this was hardly a civilized dance. 

When the twins ended with a final mixture of all 
their dizzy motions Nancy murmured a troubled 
“ Thank you.” Mimi, Doris and Cord applauded. 
Amabel turned her head away and shrugged her 
shoulders, but Grandma Emerson said kindly : 

“ You are wonderfully good at imitating, chil- 
dren. That’s an interesting thing to see; I guess 
it’s just the way the Hungarians danced it. You’re 
going to make the best dancers of any of the Chag- 
ford girls, when you’ve learned their dances.” 

“ Oh, yes!” cried Louise. “If you can copy a 
wild Hungarian dance like that, none of us will 
stand a bit of chance to equal you. But we won’t 
be jealous ! Suppose we have a dancing class of our 
own, just we who are here, this summer, then you 


NANCY’S COMING-OUT PARTY 117 


can pick up dancing without any bother — if Rick 
will play for us? ” 

“ Surely I will ! ” cried Rick. 

“ Thank you ; you’re awful good,” said Maizie 
faintly. The four were instantly aware that there 
was something about the Hungarian dance that 
these new acquaintances did not like, and they were 
grateful for a championship which they felt, but did 
not understand, in Grandma Emerson and Louise’s 
suggestion. 

“ Louise, don’t you think we had better go home 
now ? ” said Amabel haughtily. 

“ You may go, if you are not well,” said Louise, 
trying to have Amabel alone see the stern look she 
gave her. 

“ Oh, Amabel!” began Nancy, but at this mo- 
ment there opportunely appeared Letty Hetty and 
the girl who was helping her, bringing out damask 
and china in baskets, while old Mr. Marsh, the 
“ extra hand ” of several Chagford neighbours, and 
Stephen, followed, bearing a table. 

Amabel said no more of going home, and Letty 
Hetty and her assistant spread a charming tea upon 
the shining white cloth, one to which even Amabel, 
the magnificent, did ample justice. Nancy served 
her guests, with her mother’s help, and tried not to 


118 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


see, with a feeling that her not seeing would keep 
less kindly critics from noticing that the Coggs 
girls ate the small sandwiches in not more than 
three bites, and turned over their teaspoons to be 
sure of getting every drop of Letty Hetty’s ice 
cream, as well as scraped their saucers to be sure 
of it. 

“ Oh, dear, if only things did not matter so much ! 
How can they know, and they aren’t really rough ! ” 
thought their distressed little hostess. 

Grandma Emerson, Mrs. Porter and Louise ex- 
erted themselves to make the new girls feel at ease. 
Mimi, Doris and Cord stared at them with no un- 
kind nor rude intent, but because they found it 
absorbing to see bejewelled hands, such as they had 
never seen belonging to any one, much less to young 
girls, doing such uncouth things. 

When the table was cleared away, once more Rick 
played for dancing. 

“A Virginia reel would be nice, wouldn’t it?” 
suggested Nancy hopefully. 

“ Yes; we can all dance that,” said Mrs. Porter. 
“Here is your father, Nancy; make him come in 
too.” 

Nancy ran over and pulled the doctor into the 
line. “You dance with Hazie Coggs, mamma; I 


NANCY’S COMING-OUT PARTY 119 


want the doctor myself — no, I don’t ! Papa, take 
Maizie and do your best,” she cried. 

“ I’ll obey — Mimi, what’s the matter?” ex- 
claimed the doctor. 



CHAPTER VIII 


KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS 



HMI had been pirouetting alone, to the 
lively air that Rick was softly playing 
for Doris and Cord to do what Cord 
appropriately called “ stunts.” 

Cord was flax to the Coggs torch. 

Always the most active and restless 
child imaginable, she never was able to find any- 
thing sufficiently energetic to work off her bubbling 
spirits. The Coggs’ dance and the Coggs’ breezi- 
ness and splendour struck her as nearer what she 
wanted than anything she had ever happened upon. 

Now, fired with the desire to do as they did, she 
was pulling sober, rather severe Doris around in a 
series of wild motions all her own, while Mimi, 
aroused, too, by Rick’s playing and what she had 
seen, was pirouetting fantastically in a solo dance. 
When Doctor Porter had asked what was the mat- 
ter Mimi had just swung around three times, and 
had then collapsed on the ground with a low cry. 

120 


KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS 121 


The doctor hurried over to her, followed by his 
wife, Nancy and all her guests. 

“ What is it, Mimi ? ” asked the doctor, trying to 
help her up. 

But Mimi only moaned : “ My foot — my ankle ! 
It’s sprained, or something. I can’t get up.” 

The doctor lifted her and carried Mimi into the 
house. Mrs. Porter took off her slipper and stripped 
off her stocking. The ankle was sprained; al- 
ready it was swollen and reddened. Mimi’s dan- 
cing had been too gay; she had turned her ankle 
and sprained it, not severely, but enough to end any 
more antics for her for some days to come. 

Doctor Porter bandaged the wounded member. 
“ There,” he said, straightening himself as he fast- 
ened the outer bandage, “ there, Miss Mimi ; now 
for a few days you’ll sit quietly meditating on the 
uncertainties in life, and you will not indulge in 
any more fancy steps — nor plain ones, either — 
till that abused muscle gets over this.” 

“ Isn’t it queer how quick it happened ! ” sighed 
Mimi. “ It feels all right, now it’s bandaged, if I 
don’t move it. You needn’t look so sorry, Nancy. 
I won’t have to recite Friday afternoon in school, 
and I do despise speaking! Go on with the party; 
I’m all right here.” 


122 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

“We won’t go on with anything, will we, 
Nancy?” Taizie Coggs spoke up decidedly. 

“ What we’ll do, us twins, both pairs, is go home 
right off and take you along in the auty-automobile, 
Nancy said we should call it. We can all go, if your 
friends want to go. That little Cord can sit on one 
twin’s lap and Doris Clark can sit on another, and 
the other Coggs can sit on the lap of the Coggs 
that’s left over — and that’ll leave a seat for the 
Willises, one for each of ’em.” 

“ No, thank you, for my part,” said Amabel frig- 
idly. 

“ You are as kind as you can be to be willing to 
crowd us all in,” Louise hastily interposed, trying 
to cover Amabel’s answer, “ but I’m going to 
the library on my way home to-night, and we’d 
like to walk, after Nancy’s sandwiches and 
cakes ! ” 

“You’ll let us take you home, won’t you?” 
Maizie begged Mimi and Doris. 

“ Thank you ever so much,” said Mimi. “ But 
please don’t cut short the party for me. I’d like to 
lie here till it’s time to go; I’m as comfortable as 
I can be.” 

“We wouldn’t enjoy dancing and fooling, think- 
ing you’re outer it and couldn’t have fun with us,” 


KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS 123 


said big Maizie heartily. “ It’s awful mean it hap- 
pened, but we’d heaps rather take you home now; 
it wouldn’t be any fun thinking you heard us cutting 
up and was outer it. I guess we’ll be going, Nancy. 
Hazie, go find Mr. Riggs and tell him please to come 
around for us now.” 

“ I’ll go call Elijah,” interposed Letty Hetty. 
“ He’s out visitin’ Stephen.” 

“ You are dear, kind girls,” said Mrs. Porter, 
taking the four Coggs twins to get their big hats 
and long, grown-up silken coats. 

Nancy lingered beside Mimi, surveying her anx- 
iously, as if to see by her face how severe the ankle 
sprain was. 

“ Aren’t they kind and nice ! ” she cried. “ They 
wouldn’t enjoy dancing any more, they’re so sorry 
about this.” 

“ It’s just dear of them ! ” agreed Mimi and Doris. 
“ They are very nice, underneath, and they’ll learn,” 
added Mimi on her own account. 

“ Well, I must say I don’t want to be a mission- 
ary,” said Amabel, with her most high and mighty 
air. 

“ I’ve been just dying to ride in a machine and I 
never did ! ” cried Cord ecstatically. “ The only 
automobile I ever knew was the one that ran over 


124 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


me that time, and I’ve always been crazy to be on 
top of one.” 

“ It certainly is much better than having one on 
top of you, Cordie ! ” laughed the doctor. 

The Coggs reappeared, pulling on gauntlet gloves. 
Long veils floated now from their immense hats, 
partly covering the flowers. Their rosy faces and 
their ruddy, undisciplined hair showed from under 
the broad brims and flowing veils, looking younger, 
more childish than usual for being thus framed like 
older faces, and surmounting such modish adults 
coats. 

“ All ready? ” asked one of them. “ Doctor Por- 
ter, if you can get Mimi into the car without hurting 
her we’ll just squash in any old way, so we won’t 
crowd her. Then Mr. Riggs won’t run fast, to jolt 
her. Ain’t it funny a man named Riggs drives out 
girls named Coggs — all the g’s there is, pretty 
near! We can’t seem to say Elijah.” Doctor Por- 
ter lifted Mimi and carried her down to the car, de- 
positing her carefully on the back seat. 

“ We’ve had a fine time,” said Maizie. “ Good- 
dy, Mrs. Porter, good-by, Nancy. Say, Mrs. Em- 
erson, would you go riding with us, some day? We 
Coggses love you.” 

“Why, bless your hearts, isn’t that a pleasant 


KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS 125 


hearing ?” cried Grandma Emerson. “I’d be de- 
lighted to go riding, in that splendid car.” 

“Then you’re a-going!” declared Taizie. 
“ We’re going to give everybody fun, if they’ll take 
it. We’re coming after Letty Hetty, some day. 
We’d be glad to take the Willises.” She looked 
doubtfully at the elder and younger sister. Amabel 
did not reply, but Louise said warmly : 

“ How nice it is to want to share your happiness ! 
I’ll be glad to drive with you; thank you, ever so 
much. And I’m coming to see you — may I ? ” 

“ Well, I should say you could come! ” cried two 
or three twins together. 

“ Say, Doctor, it won’t hurt Mimi to ride a little 
ways, just sitting still, will it? ” asked Daisy. 

“ Not a bit ! ” the doctor told her. 

“ Then we’re a-going to take a ride first ! ” cried 
Daisy jubilantly.. “ It’s easy to see Cord’s crazy 
for it, and we know what ’tis not to get fun when 
you’re little, and crazy for it. Good-by, every- 
body; come see us. We’ve had a fine party, 
Nancy.” 

“ So long ! ” cried all four twins, as they rolled 
away, Cord bouncing up to wave her hands, both 
hands, in the great joy of a dream realized. 

“ Generous, kind girls ! ” said Grandma Emerson. 


126 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ I believe everybody they know’ll have a share in 
their good things as long as they live.” 

“ I’m perfectly sure of it,” said Doctor Porter. 
He spoke heartily and glanced at Amabel. “ If one 
must choose between good hearts and good English 
there ought not to be any hesitation: one can be 
taught, but the other is a gift from heaven.” 

“ They are genuine and good,” said Louise. 
“ But how dear you are, you three Porters, to help 
them to fill their place in the world ! ” 

“ Well, they make me tired,” said Amabel de- 
cidedly. “ I don’t see why such common people have 
money. The way they talk and their manners ! ” 

“ Just you give them time, Amabel Willis,” said 
Grandma Emerson. “ And which manners did you 
mean? Small ones at the table, or big ones like ta- 
king Mimi home and giving Cord the ride she was 
hungry for ? ” 

“ Amabel has more to learn than the nice, funny 
Coggs girls, Grandma Emerson,” said Louise. 
“ And they know that they need lessons, whereas 
she doesn’t, so they are wiser than she, if not more 
learned. Come, Amabel; we must bid Nancy good 
night.” 

Nancy went into the house with her mother, the 
doctor going down the street to take Grandma 


KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS 127 

Emerson home and to see that the Willises arrived 
safely. 

“ We haven’t had our hour to-night, mamma; 
can’t we have it now? ” asked Nancy. 

The hour of twilight had been her hour with her 
mother since she was a baby; Nancy never liked 
to be defrauded of it. 

“ Part of it,” said Mrs. Porter, drawing Nancy 
to her side on the willow piazza lounge. “ Was the 
party a success ? ” 

“ The party was, but Amabel wasn’t,” said 
Nancy, with a little laugh. “ She is so rude that I 
could hardly keep from asking her how she really 
could think any one else had bad manners! As 
though not knowing could be like being rude pur- 
posely ! ” 

“ Fortunately you did keep from it, else you 
might have been rude too, being her hostess ! ” 
laughed Mrs. Porter. “ I hope the Coggs children 
did not mind her folly; they did not seem to, and 
Louise was charming to them.” 

“ You never could tell, if they did mind it,” said 
Nancy. “ Louise is always charming. Mother 
Porter, I’m just crazy about Louise Willis ! I hope 
I’ll be half as nice and fine as she is, when I’m 
eighteen ! ” 


128 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ Daughter Porter, I hope that you will be at 
least half as nice and fine, though I’d like it to be 
wholly so, if you can manage it!” said Mrs. 
Porter. 

“ Shouldn’t you suppose, as often as we’ve all 
heard about kind hearts being more than coronets, 
Amabel would see straighter!” cried Nancy, going 
back to the first subject. 

Rick had dropped into the hammock at the other 
end of the piazza, unseen by either mother or daugh- 
ter. Out of its Mexican red and green and gold 
he now spoke unexpectedly. 

“ The Coggs have both, haven’t they ? ” he asked. 
“ Kind hearts there’s no doubt about, and isn’t a lot 
of money the same thing in America as a coronet? 
Cheer up, Nancy. Remember how Amabel snubbed 
me when I first turned up here, and to-night she was 
perfectly balmy to me, told me she had met ‘ my 
cousin, the Countess Valtino in Italy.’ My, but it 
is funny ! ” And Rick laughed the quiet laugh of 
pure enjoyment, quite free from malice. 

Doctor Porter came up the street at a brisk pace ; 
the three people who loved him — for Rick wor- 
shipped the big man who was also in his quiet way 
a great man — recognized his step long before he 
came in sight, and that he was walking as he walked 


KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS 129 


when he was thinking hard of an interesting 
“ case." 

“ Assistant," said the doctor the moment that he 
reached the piazza, “ I am going to take you with 
me to-morrow morning. I have been sent for to 
visit a young woman in North Chagford, and you 
shall go with me, if we can persuade your stern 
other-parent to let you have lessons after lunch, in- 
stead of after breakfast." 

“ Oh, dear," sighed Mrs. Porter. “ Nancy will 
grow up disgracefully ignorant, you steal her from 
her lessons so often ! But I suppose I must let you 
have your way." 

“ She shall recite the table of two-times to me all 
the way over, and the three-times all the way back, 
Mildred, so that she may lose nothing," declared 
the doctor. 

“ If the child is going to school in the fall it is 
bad enough; Til take her with me while I may. I 
received the message through a boy who had been 
sent to ask me to go in the morning to see a young 
woman at North Chagford who is a stranger in 
town and seriously ill. The boy, on his own ac- 
count, told me that he thought she was going to die. 
She knows no one here whatever." 

“ And you are taking Nancy in case she is lonely, 


130 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


hoping that a little girl of twelve may be better than 
no one to befriend her ? ” asked Mrs. Porter, know- 
ing how the doctor “ prescribed ” Nancy, as he him- 
self put it, to patients whom he thought her sweet- 
ness and gentle sympathy might unconsciously bene- 
fit — often he “ prescribed ” her with wonderful re- 
sults. 

“ Well, sometimes loneliness is the root of appar- 
ently fatal diseases, and it is one that medicine can- 
not reach — at least medicine in a bottle,” admitted 
the doctor. 

In the morning Nancy started out with her father, 
delighting in the drive, in his perfect companionship, 
dreading the visit before her as any sensitive child 
would have dreaded it, but keeping the dread to her- 
self, as behooved the doctor’s daughter and “ his 
assistant.” 

“ Perhaps I ought not to interrupt the regularity 
of your studies, Assistant,” said the doctor apolo- 
getically, breaking the silence with which they had 
started out. “ But I can’t help feeling that you do 
get something on these drives that text books can’t 
give you — and I want you greatly ! ” 

“ Why, Daddy-Doctor,” cried Nancy, “ of course 
I do! I can feel the wisest things just flowing into 
me! Of course French verbs and all those things 


KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS 131 


you have to grind over, but look at the great Eng- 
lish things you teach me when we drive — Shake- 
speare and all the poets! And how we talk and 
talk, of history, and science and people, and all 
things — even of God ! ” Nancy lowered her voice 
reverently. “ Daddy-Doctor, I’ll be old before I 
really know all you teach me when you and Tonic 
and I go along the road ! ” 

“ Nancy, child, I like above all things to hear you 
say this, and I half believe it is true, or I hope I 
wouldn’t let this be so much of your education,” re- 
turned the doctor, drawing Nancy to him with his 
usual motion that combined one embrace with sev- 
eral pats. 

The drive to North Chagford was out in the di- 
rection of the country, for North Chagford was that 
portion of the Chagford townships which was the 
farming district. For this reason Nancy liked the 
drive, on the whole, best of any. It was peacefully 
pretty, the road running along past plain houses, 
white with green blinds for the most part. There 
were pretty orchards all along the way, tidy front 
yards, and everywhere flower beds and shrubs in 
bloom, peonies and the graceful bleeding heart pre- 
dominating. 

The small farm to which Doctor Porter was 


132 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


bound lay on the farthest side of North Chagford. 
He and Nancy jogged on to it, entertaining each 
other with bits of conversation, sometimes a recita- 
tion, for the doctor knew vast amounts of the best 
English poetry, and he and Nancy often tested each 
other’s memories of poems, and sometimes Nancy 
sang snatches of songs in her sweet little voice, for 
Nancy had the musical gift. 

Thus, delightfully, they arrived at their destina- 
tion and the doctor tied Tonic to the hitching-post 
at the gate. Then the doctor, taking his satchel in 
one hand and his daughter in the other, walked up 
the long front walk to the house. He went at once 
to his patient, while Nancy sat in the high-backed 
wooden rocker in the sitting-room to await his re- 
turn. 

After a half hour of waiting her father re- 
appeared and called her. “ Come, Assistant, 
please,” he said. “ I want you to see my patient. 
And, Nancy dear, try to interest her. She is 
not sick, except sick at heart, discouraged and 
lonely.” 

Nancy arose at once, but with shrinking from the 
task before her. Her father saw this, and took her 
hand, appreciating the silent acceptance of her duty 
which was part of gentle Nancy’s strength. 




























* 











KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS 133 

He took her into an inner room on the lower 
floor, and there, seated in a large armchair, Nancy 
saw a young woman, still in her twenties, pale and 
thin, with great hollows under her dark eyes, her 
lips drooping, her entire effect that of one whose 
strength was far spent. 

“ Miss Drummond, here is my little girl. Nancy, 
this is Miss Rhoda Drummond, whom I have been 
called to see. She doesn’t feel as strong as she soon 
will, when she has taken all my prescriptions. 
Please tell her what a skilful physician your father 
is,” said the doctor. 

“ I hope you will be better very soon,” said 
Nancy, going up to the invalid and offering her 
hand. “ It is true that papa cures everybody.” 

“ Does he ? ” asked Miss Drummond. “ Does no 
one die in Chagford ? ” 

“ Not when papa can help it,” said Nancy, and 
the patient smiled. 

“ I am glad that he brought you with him ; it is 
good to see a little girl,” she said. 

“ Are you very lonely here, not knowing any 
one?” asked Nancy gently. 

“ Very,” said Miss Drummond, turning her face 
away. 

“ I will come every time papa visits you, if you 


134 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

like,” said Nancy. “ I could come and read to you. 
I know a lovely girl, eighteen, who would be better 
than I to come. Perhaps you would like to know 
her? Then you wouldn’t feel alone here, because, 
you see, you wouldn’t be alone; you would have 
one friend — and me ! ” 

“You dear little thing!” said Miss Drummond. 
“ Doctor Porter, I may as well tell you the truth,” 
she added, turning suddenly to the doctor. “ I am 
ill, it is true, but it is from nothing but worry — 
that and desolation! I am entirely alone in the 
world; except an excellent education, I haven’t one 
particle of capital to begin life on, and my strength 
has given out. You can’t cure me unless you can 
find me work.” 

“ My dear Miss Drummond, you must get 
stronger — ” began the doctor, but she cut him 
short. 

“ I can’t be stronger when I know that I am al- 
most out of money. I can’t stay here more than a 
week longer, and I can’t pay for your visits to cure 
me,” she cried. 

“ My fees can easily wait ; that need not distress 
you,” said the doctor. “ What sort of work — ” 

“ Daddy, dearest,” cried Nancy, interrupting her 
father in her turn, her cheeks crimsoning, her eyes 


KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS 135 


flashing with a brilliant idea. “ There are the Coggs 
twins ! ” 

“ Where? ” asked the doctor, looking toward the 
window. 

“ No, no ! Doctor-Daddy, where are your wits ? ” 
cried Nancy. “ Don’t you know they need some one 
to live with them, teach them everything? Couldn’t 
Miss Drummond — ” Nancy paused, afraid to go 
too far with the suggestion involving this stranger 
in her presence. 

“ Nancy, is it any wonder that I have taken you 
for my professional assistant ? ” cried the doctor. 
“ Miss Drummond, there are four children here who 
are born of plain people, are quite ignorant of books, 
customs, school training, but who are lovable, kind, 
good, and have come into fabulous wealth. As 
Nancy says, they need a companion, a guide and 
teacher and friend. If you could give me the refer- 
ences necessary for one who would be placed in such 
a responsible position, to form the minds and to 
guide girls of about fifteen, I am sure I could place 
you with them. Would you be willing to take such 
a position?” 

For answer Miss Drummond burst out crying, 
but the doctor, and Nancy, also, saw that it was the 
sort of crying which did more good than medicine. 


136 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ I can give you all the references you like,” said 
Miss Drummond, struggling to be still. “ My 
mother died when I was a baby, but my father was 
a wealthy man, whose entire property was found 
to have been swept away when he died, three years 
ago. I have a good education and am accustomed 
to society. Oh, you could not have helped me as 
your little girl has done, however wise a physician 
you may be ! ” 

Nancy laid her hand on Miss Drummond’s knee. 
“ And you will like the Coggs twins,” she said ear- 
nestly. “ It is just as Rick said ; they have the kind 
hearts which are more than coronets, but their 
wealth is a kind of coronet too. And I know how 
glad they will be if you will live with them.” 



CHAPTER IX 


THE WARM ELASTIC PORTER HOUSE 

OCTOR PORTER and his assistant 
drove away, leaving the new patient 
greatly cheered, better already for 
seeing a ray of hope, but so excited 
that she was in need of rest. 

“ Comfortable, Assistant ? ” in- 
quired the doctor caressingly. “ Do you know, lady- 
bird, stupid though it was, I never once thought of 
those rough diamonds in “ Foster’s Folly ” when I 
was casting about in my mind for some suggestion 
to make to that sick girl ! Yet it’s the very thing. I 
am grateful to you for hitting upon it. I had a talk 
with this new patient before I called you, of course. 
She is dangerously ill, in the sense of being badly 
broken down, but there isn’t one thing wrong with 
her, as she said, except bearing a burden beyond her 
strength. Still many a one has died of that com- 
plaint, especially women. She came to North Chag- 
ford expecting employment here, and it failed her. 

1137 



138 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


She was already at the breaking-point and she broke. 
Her slender store of money is spent : you heard her 
say that she could not stay on where she is. She 
strikes me as a well-bred, refined girl — you liked 
her, little Assistant ? ” 

The doctor asked the question, sincerely desirous 
of a reply. He had great faith in Nancy’s instinct: 
she was apt to be right in her likings and dislikings ; 
she had a divining rod for trustworthiness beyond 
her experience of what constituted it. 

“ Oh, I like her very much indeed,” said Nancy 
heartily. “ And I think she is pretty when she is 
well, and her face looks as though she had read a 
great deal.” 

“How do well-read faces look, Nancy? Crim- 
son?” asked the doctor. 

“ Well, they never look green,” retorted Nancy 
instantly, to the doctor’s delight, for he liked to have 
her get the best of him. “ My joke is every bit as 
good as yours, sir ! ” 

“ It’s the same one,” cried the doctor. “ It takes 
its colour from mine. Do look at Tonic’s tail 
switch ! He never did like puns ! ” 

“ He switches because they fly so fast he thinks 
it must be fly time ! ” cried Nancy, bouncing in her 
seat and actually butting her father with her head 


“ WARM ELASTIC PORTER HOUSE ” 139 


in her enjoyment of their nonsense, like a happy 
sheep. 

“ Nancy, Nancy, such brilliance is uncanny !” 
protested Doctor Porter. “ Let us resume our seri- 
ous conversation. I am delighted that you sug- 
gested Miss Drummond’s going to the new Dollar 
Princesses, the Ladies of the Lake; it will work 
good mutually.” 

“ Yes,” said Nancy absent-mindedly. “ Daddy, 
dear, I was wondering, if she can’t stay on where 
she is, how Miss Drummond will get ready to take 
that place ? ” 

“ True again. Assistant! Oh, for the Chagford 
Hospital, and a convalescent ward l ” said the 
doctor. 

“ If mamma thought it right, wouldn’t it be 
rather nice to invite her to make us a little visit? 
Letty Hetty’s cooking would make her strong,” 
suggested Nancy. 

“ Nancy, you are your mother’s own daughter! 
She always wants to take in everything worn-out 
and hungry, whether it be biped or quadruped, feed 
it and rest it into health,” exclaimed Doctor Porter, 
his eyes warm with the gladness it gave him to know 
that his one little daughter was growing up like her 
great-hearted mother. 


140 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


But Nancy turned the tables on him. “ How 
about that father of mine who goes, winter and 
summer, curing and helping people, and won’t ever 
send a bill for half he does ? ” she demanded. 

“ 1 The night is fine,’ the Walrus said : 

“ 4 Do you admire the view ? ’ That was a neat 
way he had of turning the oysters’ embarrassing 
conversation into better channels,” said the whimsi- 
cal doctor. “ Nancy, I’ll tell you once more what 
I’ve told you often enough before : Life is not easy 
for most people. I want to make it easier for a few 
while I am passing through it. I shall not leave 
you an inheritance of wealth, as perhaps I might 
have done had I been more penny wise, but I have 
an idea you will be no poorer, but richer, in better 
wealth than money, if I am not too insistent on 
the bills of those patients who cannot afford to 
be ill.” 

44 My dearest Doctor-Daddy,” cried Nancy, 
“ there will be enough for me : I shall not care to 
be rich. I’d rather be as proud of you as I am, for 
these beautiful, dear things you do, than have a 
million! When we drive along and people say: 
That’s Nancy, 4 the doctor’s little girl,’ I know it’s 
kind of like blessing me, for your sake, and that will 
make me rich.” 


“ WARM ELASTIC PORTER HOUSE ” 141 

“ Little daughter, dear little daughter ! ” said the 
doctor softly. 

Nancy laid her head on his shoulder and they 
drove the rest of the way silently. 

Arrived at home, Nancy ran into the house by the 
side door, startling Bumblebee, who lay purring in 
the sun, and waking Fred into rapture at her return. 

She paused, hearing voices in the library, and 
looked inquiringly at Letty Hetty for information 
as to their owners. 

“ Some of the Coggses are in there, two of ’em,” 
explained Letty Hetty. “ They came down quite 
awhile ago. Your mother’s talkin’ to ’em.” 

“How lucky!” cried Nancy. “I’ve something 
to tell them that can’t wait.” 

She ran through the house, but stopped in the 
library door. There sat Maizie and Taizie Coggs 
with her mother, and the girls’ faces were exceed- 
ingly red, their hair more than usually frowzy. 
There was a general air of perturbation about them 
that Nancy was quick to note. 

“ Hallo, Nancy ! ” cried the representative of each 
pair of twins, brightening at the sight of her. 
“ We’ve been here so long that we was just going.” 

“Hallo!” echoed Nancy. “You can’t go now, 
for I’ve something so interesting to tell you that I 


142 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


was going to ask mamma to walk up with me to see 
you after tea, if we couldn’t drive up. How would 
you like a companion ? ” 

“You mean — ?” Maizie hesitated, but Mrs. 
Porter looked up quickly. 

“ How extraordinary that you should ask that 
now, Nancy!” she exclaimed. “Nancy means a 
lady who would live with you and help you in just 
the ways you have been speaking of, in little nice- 
ties of speech and manners, teaching you customs 
of social intercourse, suggesting tasteful gowns, and 
going about with you, as you are too young to go 
about alone. You meant some one of that sort, 
didn’t you, Nancy? And you must have heard of 
some one, but who can she be? I have racked my 
brains in vain to discover such a person.” 

“ She is Miss Rhoda Drummond, the patient 
father went to see at North Chagford,” explained 
Nancy. “ She is young; I can’t tell how old be- 
cause she looks so sick and sad, but she’s in the 
twenties, I think. She speaks prettily, and is re- 
fined, and she says she had a fine education, because 
her father was rich, but he hadn’t any money at all 
when he died, and she has to earn her living. She 
came here to take a position, but something went 
wrong with it, and then she broke down. Father 


“ WARM ELASTIC PORTER HOUSE ” 143 


says she has nothing the matter with her, only 
worry, but he thinks she is quite ill of that. She 
is boarding over there at the Pailey farm and she 
can’t stay longer because her money is all gone. I 
told her about the Coggs girls, and asked her if she 
would be their companion if they wanted her, and 
she was so glad — so weak, too — that she just 
burst out crying.” 

“ If we want her! If we’ll take her!” cried 
Taizie excitedly. “ Well, what do you think of 
that, Maizie ! Isn’t that a regular cup-and-saucer fit ! 
I guess we will take her ! Send her up to the palace. 
If she doesn’t like it she won’t have to stay. It’ll 
give her a chance to get well, anyhow, and goodness 
knows, there’s room enough up there to stow away 
all the companions on earth. We’re just rattling 
around in that house, though we’ve got two servants 
now, and Mr. Ri-Elijah’s moved in with his wife, 
and she’s the housekeeper. Poor girl! We’re all 
sorry for people that have a hard time ; we’ve had 
it. And, say, Nancy, we’re having it now, only dif- 
ferent. We came down to talk to your mother 
about it.” 

“Yes,” chimed in Maizie, “we’re not bats; we 
can see in daylight, and that party you had us to 
made us sit up and take notice. It was awful good 


144 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

of you, and the girls were all right, though we 
struck Mimi and Doris dumb; they couldn’t do a 
thing but stare at us, as if we was freaks — and I 
guess we are pretty different! We see that our- 
selves. Little Cord thinks we’re immense, but she 
doesn’t count, being too little and kind of a pick-up 
herself, like us. And that Louise Willis is a duck, 
but Amy Bell — ” 

“ Now, Maizie,” interposed Taizie anxiously, 
fearing her sister would say too much, as Nancy 
flushed at the mention of this formidable name. 
“ That Amy Bell’s another sort. She’s one of the 
kind that’s deadly afraid of ketching things; she’s 
afraid our colour will run, and she doesn’t like the 
shade. She was kind of hateful — you mustn’t 
mind, Nancy, ’cause we don’t, honest, but that’s the 
truth. But she showed us a thing or two.” 

“ Oh, dear me,” sighed Nancy, “ I don’t see 
what makes Amabel act so ! I just knew you’d feel 
it. But you mustn’t, much. She’s always like that. 
She was dreadful when we first knew Rick, dread- 
ful; it worried me nearly sick, but she got all over 
it.” 

“ That’s because she found out Rick was all 
right,” said Maizie frankly. “ Now, Nancy, we 
ain’t all right. I don’t mean there’s anything wrong 


“WARM ELASTIC PORTER HOUSE” 145 

with us, because there ain’t. We four Coggses 
mean to be about straight; we won’t either of us 
twins do bad things, like lying, stealing, or mean 
sneakinesses if we know it, but we ain’t all right, 
not the way you and Rick and these girls are. How 
could we be? Been knocking ’round all our days 
with poor folks, and didn’t have any schooling, 
much, and our folks were just like that, till Peter 
Debbs got rich. But we ain’t stupid; we could 
learn, give us half a chance. And what we come 
down to-day to see your mother for was to say we 
want to get that chance.” 

“ Yes, sir,” said Taizie, resuming her part in the 
duet, “ that Amy Bell opened our eyes. Most likely 
we wouldn’t of noticed ourselves so much if every- 
body had been nice to us, like your folks and Louise 
Willis, but that snubby thing made us sit up and 
take notice.” 

“ She made us so mad we couldn’t see straight,” 
cried Maizie. “ We was afraid you’d know how we 
felt, so we tried to cover up. But after we got home 
and talked it over, we kids decided that, though it 
was a poor way of giving lessons, when you had 
asked us all to your house for a party, still, we 
hadn’t any real idea how to act in society, and Amy 
Bell was right in thinking so, if she wa’n’t right 


146 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


any other way. And we made up our minds instead 
of spending any more money on clothes and dia- 
monds, and things to put on us, we was going to 
spend some in things to put in us — in our brains. 
We came to ask your mother how to do it, and if 
she could tell us where to get ’em, besides here, 
where else we could go to see how folks acted that 
was used to behaving. And she told us to get a 
companion. That’s why we thought it was so queer 
when you come along with one in your pocket.” 

“ I have told these two sensible, honest girls how 
I admire them for taking this in the way they do, 
and how sure I am that girls as young as they are, 
who are so quick to see, will pick up what they need 
almost at once,” said Mrs. Porter cordially. 
“ Stupid girls would have been angry with Amabel 
and not half clever enough to get good out of her 
bad manners, which are, after all, at bottom worse 
than making mistakes. They are the worst of bad 
manners, the sort that come from unkindness. And 
I have said to them that I will take two of them, 
whichever two they prefer to send, down to Boston 
with us, with you and me, for a few days at Aunt 
Mary Lawrence’s. You know, Nancy, Aunt Mary 
will gladly welcome them, if I write her that I am 
going to bring them, and that there they will see 


“ WARM ELASTIC PORTER HOUSE ” 147 

the most charming way of living and the finest sort 
of beautiful breeding. I told them that Aunt Mary 
could put us in the way of getting a desirable com- 
panion, but if you and your father have really found 
the right one in North Chagford that part is easily 
settled. This Miss Drummond — didn’t you say? 
— would be welcome to the girls because she is sad 
and ill, and they would feel that they had a chance 
to do her good. I have learned that the Coggs 
twins love to make life easier for others ! ” 

She smiled affectionately into the two flushed 
faces before her, really respecting and admiring, as 
she must, the sense and good temper these girls 
were showing in taking Amabel’s snubbing as they 
did. 

Maizie flew at Mrs. Porter and kissed her. 
" Well, you are certainly a peach ! ” she cried. 

“ Auntie Mary Lawrence will be at Swampscott 
by this time, won’t she? ” said Nancy. 

“ Not this year. Miles graduates from Technol- 
ogy, and Althea from Radcliffe, so she has stayed 
in town to be near them both,” said Mrs. Porter. 
“ I will write her to-day and, if she can receive us, 
you and I, with any two of the twins, will go for 
three or four days to Boston next week. Don’t you 
like the idea?” 


148 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ Of course I do! ” cried Nancy. “ It’s a beauti- 
ful idea, mamma mine, and I’m sure the twins will 
like it. Which two do you think will go ? ” she 
added to Taizie. 

“ We are scared to death at the idea of going to 
a grand and elegant place like that, but with you to 
see' us through we’ll live, I guess,” said Taizie. 
“ We all sort of count Maizie the head of the fam- 
ily; she’ll go, for one. And by rights it ought to 
be Hazie with her, ’cause Hazie ain’t quite so crazy 
as Daisy and me, though Hazie rhymes as good 
with crazy as any of the rest of our names! I 
shouldn’t wonder much if I went; the other two 
kind of shove me ahead — or I go ahead — both, I 
guess.” 

“ When we thought about getting all this money, 
first off,” said Maizie pensively as she arose to make 
the first move toward going, “ we didn’t think of a 
thing but having fun. We planned to buy all there 
was and a little over, go ’round all the time, and not 
have one thing to bother us, not care for any one’s 
talk, nor anything. We meant to sail right in and 
just whoop it up — if that ain’t a unladylike word, 
and I guess it is! But, my gracious alive, we 
haven’t been rich no time, and look at us ! Coming 
right in line like lambs, wanting to get a missionary 


“ WARM ELASTIC PORTER HOUSE ” 149 


and stop being heathens! Ain’t it queer? Now 
we’ve got the money, instid of feeling we are awful 
independent, don’t care a mite, we feel as if we’d 
got to kinder make ourselves match it. I never’d 
of believed I’d of been so meeker’n Moses ! ” 

Mrs. Porter laughed with all her heart. She 
arose with her guests and put an arm around Mai- 
zie, the meek, who really looked cast down by this 
amazing right-about face which she discovered in 
herself. 

“ My dear,” said Mrs. Porter, “ that’s one of the 
good things about human beings. As a rule they 
will do their duty, if it is entrusted to them. People 
will be reckless and wild, careless, perhaps even 
wicked till responsibility falls on them, and then, in 
most cases, they will be sobered and do what is ex- 
pected of them, carry their weight steadily. By and 
by, when you and Miss Drummond, if she comes to 
you, begin reading together, you will learn a phrase, 
noblesse oblige, which means that if any one is 
placed above his fellows it obliges him to be a good 
example and honourable. Great wealth obliges, as 
well as great birth. You are beginning to realize 
that you will have to do more in life, by and by, 
than amuse yourselves, isn’t that it ? ” 

“ I guess it is,” assented Maizie, still inclined to 


150 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


be pensive. “ But it would be nice if we could just 
go as we please.” 

“ Yes, but the funny thing is that go-as-you- 
please don’t please us as much as it did,” Taizie 
chimed in. “ We’re just as full of fun as we were, 
but — well, it ain’t Amy Bell exactly, or her snubby 
ways, but we want to be so there ain’t anything in 
us to snub. What we mean is we don’t want that 
the money grandfather Peter Debbs settled on us is 
all there is to us.” 

“ We perfectly understand and entirely sympa- 
thize with the feeling, Taizie,” said Mrs. Porter. 
“ But there is no danger of the money being all 
there is to like and respect in you. The best of a 
wish to improve is that the moment one wishes it 
that person is improved. There is a poem that 
says : 

“ ‘Though his beginnings be but poor and low, 

Thank God a man can grow ! ’ ” 

“ My, that sounds fine ! ” cried Maizie. “ I guess 
we’ll like reading all right, when we get at it. We 
haven’t said thank you to Mrs. Porter, Taizie, but 
I declare if I know just how to say it strong enough ! 
You’re awful good to us, to talk to us, and let us 
tell you everything, and brace us up, and steer us 
right, the way you do. Then to say you’ll take us 


44 WARM ELASTIC PORTER HOUSE ” 151 


down to that dandy Boston house! Nancy Porter, 
there ain’t any girl has got a mother like yours. I 
guess if Peter Debbs’s money makes us have to be 
kinder decent, your mother and the doctor makes 
you step high to keep up with ’em ! ” 

“Oh, I know!” said Nancy. 44 1 don’t expect 
to keep up with them; I hope I’ll keep just in sight 
of them, though ! ” 

Her mother drew her close with the other arm, 
still holding Maizie with her left. 

44 Nancy must copy all her father’s good traits 
and none of her mother’s bad ones,” she said. 

Maizie bent down and kissed the little girl. 
44 Don’t you worry, Nancy Porter, about those bad 
traits. I don’t know what traits means, but I guess 
it’s ways. You’re a dear kiddy, and we twins are 
sure of it,” she said. 

44 How’ll we know about that Miss Drummond? ” 
asked Taizie. 

44 Come with your car to-night, and, if the doctor 
is not busy, he and I will go with you to see her,” 
suggested Mrs. Porter. 44 I’ll telephone you if the 
doctor cannot go.” 

44 Mamma dear, Miss Drummond is weak and 
worn-out. We — I — it wasn’t papa — thought 
maybe she might come here for just a little visit, to 


152 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


rest and get well before she went to the big house ? ” 
said Nancy. 

“ Well, can’t we rest her? ” cried Taizie. “ Oh, 
let her come right up to us, Mrs. Porter! We won’t 
bother her till she’s able, and it would be fun get- 
ting her round again.” 

Mrs. Porter smiled. “ You shall have all the 
kindly fun of that sort we can give you,” she said. 
“ But don’t you think we would better call on Miss 
Drummond before we settle these things? Come 
to-night, with the car, twin girls, and let us see if 
we can arrange with this stranger, who seems to 
have dropped down where she was needed and 
where she needed to be.” 

“ All right ; that’s more sensible,” said Maizie. 
“ My, but things seem to be coming our way ! 
Ain’t this a warm elastic house, and ain’t you warm 
elastic people, to take in the whole of us and every- 
body!” 


CHAPTER X 


PURPLE AND FINE LINEN 

\ JJANCY stayed at home with Letty 

M Hetty while her mother drove with 
Maizie and Daisy Coggs to see 
I Miss Drummond. The doctor had 

X sent his patient a note advising her 

to fall in with the plan of taking 
her away from the farm-house that night, for that 
was the hope with which the impetuous twins had 
set out. They not only intended to ask Miss Drum- 
mond to come to them as their companion, but to 
persuade her to let them bear her off, then and there. 

If they were successful in this mission there 
would not be room for Nancy in the car returning 
without crowding the invalid, so she stayed con- 
tentedly at home with Letty Hetty, but with per- 
mission to go to see Mimi, if she found time hang 
too heavily on her hands. 

Rick and she swung in the hammock happily, en- 
joying the soft June evening, letting their heels 
153 


154 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


scrape, not enough to harm the paint but just 
enough to make that lazy accompaniment to motion 
which adds to hammock enjoyment. Letty Hetty 
had come out to join them, her day’s work done, the 
Chagford paper in her hand and her work-basket 
on the floor beside her. Although the twilight 
would not admit of her reading or working Letty 
Hetty was of that temperament that likes to have 
something to do always at hand. With this mute 
protest against laziness, she gave herself up to it, 
enjoying the hour of rest, rocking at a jogging pace 
and humming “ Federal Street,” ordinarily a plain- 
tive hymn tune, but now rather peaceful than mel- 
ancholy. 

Rick and Nancy “ chose ” stars in fair alterna- 
tion, and the early evening passed pleasantly till 
Nancy cried: 

“ I choose all the milky way, Rick ! I see Cord 
coming, and we can’t choose any more.” 

“ Well, if that isn’t a fine way to wind up! ” Rick 
pretended to grumble. “ Then I’ll take the whole 
moon, though we left her out. If she’s made of 
green cheese it ought to be all right to top off with ! 
Cord’s at the gate.” 

“ I see her,” Nancy said, gettingfout of the ham- 
mock, thus letting Rick slide down into the middle 


PURPLE AND FINE LINEN 155 


hollow. “ Come in, Cordie. Rick and I were just 
sitting here.” 

“ Lydia and Mercy said I might come down,” 
said Cord, running up the steps. “ Hallo, Rick. 
Hallo, Letty Hetty. What’d you s’pose? I 
churned to-day ! ” 

“ Alone? ” cried Nancy. 

Cord nodded with all her might. “ Mercy’s been 
showing me how for ever so long, and Lydia’s been 
chipping in from the sofa, till, if I didn’t know how, 
it wasn’t because they hadn’t told me. So to-day 
they let me try and I made the butter all myself! 
It was good, too; Lydia said so. Mercy wouldn’t 
have counted so much, but Lydia said ’twas all 
right. So to-night they said, without my asking, 
I might come down to see you or Mimi. Let us go 
on down to Mimi’s, Nancy. Where’s your 
mother ? ” 

“ Gone to North Chagford, but she said I might 
go there if I wanted to. Shall we go, Rick? ” asked 
Nancy. “Do you care, Letty Hetty?” 

“ Not a mite,” said Letty Hetty. “ Trot along, 
only don’t stay long.” 

“ Oh, not but a few minutes : there won’t be 
time,” said Nancy. “ Come, then, Richie and 
Cord.” 


156 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


The three children went down the street, Cord 
leaning affectionately on Nancy. Mimi they found 
on the piazza of her home. The sprain was getting 
well fast: she could put her foot to the floor now, 
and in a week would use it freely. 

Doris and Amabel were with her, and there was 
apparent an atmosphere of discomfort when the 
other three arrived that Nancy and Rick felt in- 
stantly and which Cord, with her usual outspoken- 
ness, commented upon. 

“What’s up?” she asked. “What makes you 
so funny ? ” 

Mimi looked flushed and excited, Doris glum, 
Amabel sullen, and they all had stopped talking 
when the new arrivals came in sight, although their 
voices, high-pitched, had reached their visitors con- 
siderably before they got to the house. 

“ We’re not funny,” said Mimi. “ Come up and 
sit down, Nancy — and Cord and Rick.” 

“ Nothing funny about us,” said Doris, in a tone 
so disgusted that Nancy laughed and so did Rick, 
for this was funny. 

“ Well, Nancy, I may as well tell you,” said 
Amabel. “ You’re the dearest thing in the world 
and we all think so. I’m never going to forget how 
dear you were to — how dear you are.” Amabel 


PURPLE AND FINE LINEN 157 


altered her phrase, not caring to allude to a painful 
subject before so many. “ But I think it’s perfectly 
awful for you to take up with those common, com- 
mon twins, just because they’ve got money — ” 

“ Amabel, it isn’t because of that! ” cried Nancy 
shocked. “ You don’t think — ” 

“ Oh, I don’t mean you like them because they’re 
rich ; I know better than that,” Amabel interrupted 
Nancy in turn. “ But it’s because they’ve got 
money they think they have to come around. Lou- 
ise has tried to make me see how you feel, and she 
says your mother is lovely to try to help them. 
Louise says your mother is such a fine lady, so 
looked up to in town that anything she does is bound 
to go through. But I think it’s dreadful to know 
people who are so — so dreadful ! ” Amabel found 
herself unequal to expressing herself. “ They’re 
just like servant girls — only worse.” 

“ And I said they were kind and nice, and you’d 
show them how to be nicer,” cried Mimi. “ Look 
how good they were bringing me home that night ! ” 
“ And I’m poor, getting taken care of at Slo- 
cumses, working round and going to school ! ” cried 
Cord unexpectedly. There was a silence for a mo- 
ment. Nobody had thought of Cord, and how this 
conversation might strike her. 


158 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

“ You don’t count, Cordie,” said Amabel kindly. 
“ Mimi, Doris and Nancy sort of adopted you, and 
you are only a little girl, and you aren’t shoving in. 
It’s different, everyway.” 

“ ’Tain’t,” said Cord. “ I don’t care, if Nancy 
doesn’t. What’s the use ? ” 

“ Yes, what is the use?” asked Nancy slowly. 
“ Things are puzzling, but mamma knows and so 
does papa, and they say never to make friends with 
horrid, coarse people, or wrong things, but when 
people are trying to do their best, not to be afraid 
of them. Mamma says be truly nice inside and it 
can’t rub off, then you can risk helping people.” 

“ And wasn’t one of your grandfathers or some- 
body a signer ? ” asked Mimi triumphantly. 

“ Yes,” said Nancy. “ Sure enough! That 
makes us have to be true to the Declaration, doesn’t 
it? It says everybody must have the same chance. 
Oh, I know you can’t make friends with everybody, 
but when they are so kind, and want to be nice — 
Well,” Nancy looked embarrassed, but persisted, 
though she had an American child’s shyness about 
touching on religion. “ Isn’t it just the Golden 
Rule? We’d want people to be nice to us, if we 
were trying to learn something.” 

“ That’s it,” said Rick decidedly. 


PURPLE AND FINE LINEN 159 


“ It’s not the sort of people I want for friends,” 
said Amabel. 

“ You’ve just been abroad, Amabel,” cried Nancy, 
brightening. “ Now, can’t you imagine what it 
would be like if you had suddenly dropped down in 
Italy, didn’t know a word of Italian, and people 
laughed at you and wouldn’t have one thing to do 
with you, because you didn’t know how to talk and 
behave? Would you like that?” 

“ That isn’t the same,” cried Amabel. 

“ Yes, it is ! Yes, it is ! ” Mimi shouted. “ Those 
Coggs girls don’t know how to behave or talk like 
us, and the Porters are trying to teach them! It’s 
just exactly the same.” 

“ Yes,” echoed Doris. “ They’re like foreigners, 
because they’ve lived so different.” 

“ Well, anyway I don’t care ! ” said Amabel, feel- 
ing that she was getting the worst of arguing and 
falling back on positive statements. “ Louise talks 
like you, but I don’t care. I don’t want to know 
them, and I wish, Nancy Porter, when you’re so 
perfectly dear, you wouldn’t make it horrid by mix- 
ing things up so.” 

Nancy arose from the upper step where she had 
been sitting, with a laugh exactly like her father’s. 

“ I’m not mixing them up, I’m sorting them out, 


160 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


straightening them — or it’s really my mother that 
is,” she said. “ And mother is going to take two 
of the Coggs girls to Boston — I’m to go, too' — to 
stay a few days with Aunt Mary Lawrence.” 

Amabel gasped. “ At that swell, swell house, 
with those perfectly elegant people ! ” she cried. 
“ Nancy!” 

“ It’s true,” said Nancy, nodding. “ Aunt Mary 
won’t change, so, if anything happens, it must be 
that it will do the girls good. At any rate they are 
going. And they are going to get a lovely young 
lady companion to live with them. Amabel, 
wouldn’t it be comical if the Coggs twins learned so 
much and grew such fine ladies they were ashamed 
of knowing any of us two or three years from now ? 
People who have lots of wealth sometimes get 
dreadfully toploftical! But no fear of those girls 
being silly; they’re so kind and sensible! I must 
go home. Good night, girls. Glad you’re better, 
Mimi dear. Don’t worry, Amabel. I’ll try not to 
ask you when the Coggs twins come to see us, but 
I don’t see how you can help meeting them, be- 
cause they’ll be in Chagford a good while, I sup- 
pose.” 

“ You’re not mad with me, Nancy? ” cried Ama- 
bel, running after her. 


PURPLE AND FINE LINEN 161 


Nancy stopped to turn and laugh her happy little 
laugh. “Why, no; I don’t mind. You’ll get over 
it. You see you’re the only one to make a fuss 
about them. When we begin the pageant and the 
fair you’ll see how really nice they are.” 

“ Are they going to be in that ? ” cried Amabel, 
dismayed. 

“ Why, of course ! Amabel, they wanted to buy 
a hospital, but papa said they couldn’t do more than 
work like the rest of the girls for it,” said Nancy 
with a quiet enjoyment of this final startling item 
in her news budget. 

“ Lydia said I should come home with Mr. Par- 
sons; he’s down in town. He’s going to stop at 
your house and get me,” volunteered Cord, as they 
walked away, knowing that Nancy and Rick would 
try to arrange for her getting back. “Let’s race, 
will you? It’s cool enough now.” 

Nancy and Rick accepted the proposal, and the 
difficulties of social problems were forgotten in the 
effort Nancy had to make to hold her own to a de- 
gree against Rick, or against little Cord, who ran 
like the wind, her slender body flying along till one 
was tempted to believe that her bones were hollow, 
like a bird’s. 

They found Letty Hetty where they had left her ; 


162 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

she apologized for her unwonted idleness by saying 
that “ a light in the house drew bugs.” 

The big car came along in a few moments and 
Nancy ran down to the gate to meet her mother, 
and learn the results of her mission. 

“ Miss Drummond is safely bestowed at the big 
house,” said Mrs. Porter. “ She did not seem over- 
tired by the ride. She is an exceedingly attractive 
girl, Nancy, and I really believe this has been a 
providential arrangement for the girls and her.” 

Maizie Coggs leaned out of the car; she had 
come down with Mrs. Porter from her home to see 
her safely returned. 

“ It’s the best thing I ever heard of! ” she cried. 
“ The girls up there are just crazy, they’re so glad, 
and they’re fussing over Miss Drummond like 
everything. They’re so glad to get some one to 
take care of. We kinder thought, if we got rich, 
maybe we’d get a chance at doing something. 
You’re awful nice to have thought of getting Miss 
Drummond for us, Nancy. We’re lots obliged to 
you, you dear little thing, you ! Cordie, that 
you? Get in and Mr. Elijah and I’ll take you 
home.” 

Cord gladly obeyed, and the big car chugged and 
whirred away, with Maizie waving her hand from 


PURPLE AND FINE LINEN 163 

its rear and shouting something no one could possi- 
bly hear. 

Four days later Mrs. Porter, Nancy, Maizie and 
Taizie Coggs stood on the platform of the Chag- 
ford station waiting for the Boston train. 

The doctor held their tickets and talked nonsense, 
bidding Nancy beware of all sorts of impossible 
dangers when she arrived in the city. 

“ Maizie and Taizie must read all the books in 
the library before they come home,” added the doc- 
tor. “ And the only thing I implore of you for my- 
self is that you will get me some Boston hulled corn, 
for there isn’t any other like it, and few things on 
this old earth are as good for supper on a summer 
night.” 

“ Mark, you absurd man ! But I know you mean 
it, and we’ll bring it, if we have to return with a 
tin pail worn on a chatelaine!” cried his wife. 
“ There comes the train.” 

Of course all faithful students of the map of 
Massachusetts know that it does not take long to 
go from Chagford to Boston, not more than an hour 
and three quarters, or so. The ride did not seem 
long enough to the delighted girls, though Mrs. 
Porter was not desirous of prolonging it. 

The party took a cab and drove through the 


164 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

streets that were crowded and congested around the 
station, into those which widened and grew more 
and more beautiful as they passed through Copley 
Square, past the glorious Library, the Museum and 
Trinity Church, green with its close vines, clinging 
to its stones, its solid beauty outlined with a half 
English, half Orient effect against the blue sky of 
June. 

Mrs. Lawrence lived on that beautiful avenue 
that bears the name of the Commonwealth. Past 
its dignified houses, on the one hand, and its central 
chain of parks, on the other, they drove till, at last, 
they stopped before one of the most dignified of 
the mansions, and ascended the steps. 

The door was opened by a maid who smiled a 
welcome to Mrs. Porter that showed her remem- 
brance of the guest, as she held the door open for 
the girls to follow that lady. 

“ Miss Nancy, it is good to see you again,” said 
the maid softly as Nancy passed her. 

“ Thank you, Rose ; it is good to come,” replied 
Nancy, and somehow, they could not explain why, 
Maizie and Taizie felt awed and quiet. 

A man-servant appeared from the depths of the 
hall and took Mrs. Porter’s travelling cases from 
the cab driver, and carried them away. Maizie and 


PURPLE AND FINE LINEN 165 


Taizie were relieved to find them again in their 
room when they were taken to it by another maid, 
to whom the first one consigned the duty of showing 
it to them. 

The stairs of the house were broad and low; the 
Coggs girls had never seen a staircase like this one, 
and, though they knew nothing of architecture, they 
felt its beauty. A suite of rooms, a sitting-room 
and two bed-rooms, with large dressing-rooms and 
a bath-room, had been assigned the guests. Maizie 
and Taizie gasped as they wandered farther into 
their marvels. 

“ Oh, say, Taize, we can’t be dreaming, because 
we wouldn’t know how to dream it, but did you ever 
in all your bom days ! ” demanded Maizie. 

“No, sir, never!” replied Taizie emphatically, 
as she cautiously handled the toilet silver on the 
dressing-table and lightly touched its embroidered 
cover. 

Still another maid appeared and offered to help 
Mrs. Porter in laying out the clothing the guests 
had brought. 

“ There is so little, Annie, it doesn’t matter,” 
smiled Mrs. Porter, thanking her. " We are not 
going to stay long, and have brought no unneces- 
sary thing.” 


166 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ Ah, well, madam, all that Mrs. Lawrence and 
Miss Lawrence ever ask is that you will bring Miss 
Nancy and come yourself, and we servants share her 
feeling,” said Annie. 

“ Taizie, did you hear that girl’s voice and what 
she said ? ” whispered Maizie in the next room. 
“We couldn’t talk like that!” 

“Oh, my, no! ” Taizie returned, as emphatically 
as if she were not also whispering. 

“ Miss Drummond’ll have to work over time to 
get us fit to be rich; I see that already.” 

In a short time there came a tap at the door 
which Nancy sprang to open. Instantly she was 
in the embrace of a lady, tall and slender, graceful, 
elegant in every tone and gesture. Her soft silken 
gown fell in long, simple lines of silvery sheen 
around her, soft yellowish lace dropped over her 
white hands, and the separate twins noticed that on 
them was not a jewel except one fine diamond, sur- 
mounting a wedding ring. 

“My dear little Nancy!” said this lady, kissing 
the little girl with much affection. “You don’t 
know how glad your Aunt Mary is to see you, child ! 
And Mildred, my dear!” 

The pleasure that these two life-long friends felt 
in meeting was unmistakable. 


PURPLE AND FINE LINEN 167 


“ Mary, here are the guests whom I have brought 
you. Mrs. Lawrence, this is Miss Mary Coggs, this 
is Miss Teresa Coggs. My dears, this is our dear 
hostess, Mrs. Lawrence.” 

“ I am glad to know you, Miss Coggs, Miss 
Teresa,” said Mrs. Lawrence. “ We must try to 
make this a pleasant visit.” 

“ Thank you, ma’am ; hope you’re well,” mur- 
mured the twins together, painfully embarrassed. 

Seeing their misery Mrs. Lawrence turned again 
to her older friend, and presently bore her away, 
leaving Nancy to explain, as well as she could, the 
many puzzles that the two explorers of this higher 
altitude of life laid before her. 

Dinner that night seemed to Maizie and Taizie 
awful beyond their fears, yet beautiful. They were 
divided between terror of doing the wrong thing, 
and a noble ambition sometime to be able to invite 
guests to a like dinner in their own house. 

Mr. Lawrence and the only son. Miles, were at 
home, but Mrs. Lawrence’s daughter was in col- 
lege; there were no other guests, nor was it a 
formal dinner, but Maizie and Taizie found it ter- 
rifying. There was such perfect, noiseless serving, 
so many dishes offered to them by the deft man- 
servant, and so many that they had no previous 


168 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


acquaintance with, that the poor girls could hardly 
eat. They watched Nancy, who appeared just as 
she did at home, simple and contented, frankly ad- 
miring the splendour around her, but not in the least 
awe-struck nor ill-at-ease. 

Maizie and Taizie were grateful to Nancy for the 
signals she managed to convey to them for their 
guidance, and followed her every motion so faith- 
fully that their hostess and Mrs. Porter exchanged 
glances of amusement when they could safely do 
so. After dinner Mr. Lawrence and his son disap- 
peared and Mrs. Lawrence entertained the younger 
guests so pleasantly with music, games, tricks and 
stories, while Mrs. Porter sat quietly enjoying her 
friend’s cleverness, that Maizie and Taizie began to 
feel at home with her, and unconsciously entertained 
her in their turn with funny speeches and ways all 
their own. 

“ It must be early to bed, Mary dear, for my las- 
sie, and I think perhaps for Maizie and Taizie — 
what do you say, girls ? ” said Mrs. Porter at last. 
“ We shall have a busy day to-morrow, and it will 
be warm.” 

“ Sure,” said Taizie promptly. “ We’ll do what- 
ever you want us to, go to bed or sit up.” 

“ Then bid Mrs. Lawrence good night, please. 


PURPLE AND FINE LINEN 169 


Say good night to Aunt Mary, Nancy. She has 
given us a delightful evening,” hinted Mrs. Porter. 

“ Good night, Auntie. Thank you,” said Nancy, 
presenting her cheek to Mrs. Lawrence. 

The twins copied her quite successfully, and Mrs. 
Porter marshalled her flock to bed. Upstairs the 
twins once more had difficulty because a maid 
waited to help them undress. They stole away to 
say good night to Mrs. Porter in her room. 

“ It’s the biggest thing we ever saw,” Maizie 
said, and Mrs. Porter knew that she meant the 
whole beautiful ceremonious manner of life around 
her. “ Will we ever be able to be anything like 
it?” 

“If you really try. I wanted you to see what it 
means to have great wealth, and that it is worth 
while learning to use it beautifully,” Mrs. Porter 
answered. 



CHAPTER XI 


COMING EVENTS 

RS. PORTER stayed with the three 
girls but two days in Boston. Mrs. 
Lawrence was more than occupied 
with the great business of her son’s 
and daughter’s coming graduation, 
the weather was intensely warm, 
without that life-giving east wind that makes sum- 
mer in Boston bearable. The twins were becoming 
oppressed by the restraint of the formality of exist- 
ence in Commonwealth Avenue, much as they ad- 
mired it; Nancy was always impatient to get back 
to her father, her friends, her pets, her home. Mrs. 
Porter had some summer shopping to do for her- 
self and Nancy, but this did not take long. On the 
afternoon of the second day after their arrival the 
Chagford party said good-by to their kind and 
charming hostess, her delightful house and all its 
beauties of furnishings and graceful stateliness of 
customs, and took train to return to the pretty old 
170 



COMING EVENTS 171 

town that waited them with the warm welcome of 
a glowing June sunset behind its hills. 

Doctor Porter was ready for his wife and little 
girl with Tonic in the surrey. The Coggs automo- 
bile, with the home-staying twins and Elijah, were 
all eagerly hailing the missing Coggs as they came 
off the train. 

Daisy and Hazie tumbled out of the tonneau and 
noisily, but affectionately, bade their sisters wel- 
come. 

“ How was it ? Got a lot of points how to be 
perfect ladies ? ” cried they. “ Had a fine time ? 
My, hasn’t it been hot, though! Miss Drummond 
is a duck, teaches us lots of things all the time, so 
it doesn’t hurt, and she’s better already! Mrs. 
Porter, you certainly are good to us and we all 
hope there’ll be something we can do for you and 
Nancy, some day.” 

“ Come, come, children ! ” protested Doctor Por- 
ter. “ You can’t say it all, nor hear it all on the 
station platform! Get into your triumphal car, 
Ladies of the Lake, and let me drive my prodigal 
daughter home in my old-fashioned, but better 
turn-out.” 

The double twins laughed and obeyed. The car 
whizzed off, and above its jar the quartette of 


172 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


shrill, laughing, chattering voices floated back to 
the Porters, soberly starting homeward in the 
surrey. 

“ There is a great to-do in Chagford, also,” said 
the doctor, having listened to Nancy’s eager story 
of the most striking events of her brief absence. 
“ The programmes for the affair in aid of the hos- 
pital are under discussion. Miss Belinda Allaire 
is most wrought up over it, full of enthusiasm and 
full of ideas. She has chosen Louise Willis for her 
lieutenant, at least for the young people’s branch of 
the affair. There is to be a meeting to-morrow of 
girls of various sizes up at the Allaire house — 
they want my assistant to come to it.” 

“She will! What fun!” cried Nancy. “What 
are they going to have ? ” 

“ Not a fair after all,” said the doctor, “ although 
if any one makes or donates anything salable there 
will be a sale booth provided. But a pageant of 
Chagford’s history for her citizens of all ages, and 
something special for the young people, seems to be 
the prevailing idea now.” 

“ I wonder what the children’s would be ? ” said 
Nancy thoughtfully, but Tonic stopped at the Por- 
ter gate as she wondered, and she forgot all about 
the coming event in the other sort of wonder of 


COMING EVENTS 


173 


getting home again. For even three days of ab- 
sence are enough to make the return to a happy 
home wonderful, with a sense of marvel that noth- 
ing has changed. 

Letty Hetty stood beaming on the upper step, 
Rick came bounding down the walk, the door 
was open and Bumblebee looked out with dilated 
eyes — Bumblebee was one of those nervous cats 
whom no amount of petting from infancy is 
enough to convince of the trustworthiness of 
humanity — and Fred came rushing down after 
Rick, wagging his entire body and yelping little 
staccato yelps of rapture. Oh, it was good to come 
home! Nancy knew that no other place would ever 
look to her as beautiful as this. 

“ Well, Fve been wonderin’ how you two stood 
the heat in the city! ” said Letty Hetty by way of 
greeting. “ It was hotter here last night than I’ve 
ever known it, or so it seemed, but a thunder shower 
kind o’ cooled it, toward dawn. Land sakes, Nancy, 
Rick and I and the live stock — maybe the doctor, 
too ! — found it lonesome enough without you ! 
How’d the Coggs children take to the fleshpots of 
Egypt, when they were covered with the right sort 
o’ crust? I’d give something to have seen those 
two at the Lawrences’ ! ” 


174 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ They got on very well, Letty Hetty,” said 
Mrs. Porter. “ They were quiet, and saw all 
that there was to see. I look for results from the 
visit, brief though it was. Mrs. Lawrence liked 
them just as we do, thought they were good ma- 
terial.” 

“ Oh, well, anybody like Mrs. Lawrence would 
know how to make allowance, and see the real 
qualities those girls have,” said Letty Hetty. 
“ Grandma Emerson’s sort of poorly ; had a little 
sick spell — heat, the doctor says. But she’s mis’- 
rable, for her.” 

“Oh, dear, she should not live alone!” sighed 
Mrs. Porter. “If only any one could make the dear 
little soul see it, or yield the point without seeing 
it! But those sweet little old ladies are what used 
to be called ‘ set in their ways ’ ! ” 

“ As set as fate,” agreed Letty Hetty. “ And 
there’s a young woman, quite young, who came 
over yest’day from the Falls, wants to get dress- 
making, or sewing to do by the day, goin’ out. 
She’s cornin’ again to see you, Mrs. Porter; I told 
her I didn’t know.” 

“Neither do I!” sighed Mrs. Porter, with a 
laugh. “ But we’ll see.” 

“ Supper’s just about ready,” said Letty Hetty, 


COMING EVENTS 


17 ^ 

preceding the others into the house. “ I’ll hold it 
back, if you want I should; it’s too warm to eat in 
travellin’ things.” 

The next morning early Nancy was sent down 
to inquire for Grandma Emerson, as her mother 
could not go, and to take to her the little remem- 
brances that Mrs. Porter and Nancy had brought 
to her from Boston. Like most people, the dear 
little old lady liked to know that she was remem- 
bered, caring more for that than for the form the 
remembrance took — though she delighted in candy 
like a girl in her ’teens. 

She saw Nancy coming and came out to meet 
her, after her established custom. Rick had walked 
with Nancy so far, and paused a moment to hear 
Grandma Emerson’s report of herself before going 
on to school. 

“ And this is the young lady from Boston ! ” she 
said. “ Let me look at her and see if she is im- 
proved by travel. I do believe she is! I am well, 
Master Richard, and you are not to credit libels that 
impute ill health to me,” she added. “ Run along 
to school, laddie, and take with you the certainty 
that the little old lady called Grandma Emerson, is 
flourishing like a green bay tree. Nancy, you are 
to come into the house and tell me all that has hap- 


176 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


pened to you in the long time you were gone! 
Truth to tell, little girl, it did seem like a long 
time, although it was not nearly as long as I have 
lived.” 

Rick smiled and went on as he was bidden, but 
he saw that the little woman was pale, looked weak, 
and it seemed to both the children that she was 
forcing her usual sprightliness. 

Nancy recounted her adventures from the begin- 
ning to the end, making Grandma Emerson laugh 
over the droll things that Maizie and Taizie did, 
and pleasing her by telling her what they had said 
that showed they were beginning to see things in 
truer colours and proportions. Grandma Emerson 
wanted to know precisely how Mrs. Lawrence had 
looked, what she had said of Althea, whom Nancy 
had not seen, and of her coming graduation; how 
Miles looked, and what changes there had been in 
the large department stores since Nancy’s last re- 
port. Though Grandma Emerson cheerfully said 
that she should never again go to Boston, she 
wanted every minute detail of the city told her by 
its latest visitor, by this means keeping in touch 
with its changes. 

Nancy arose to go at last, having emptied her 
budget. She gave Grandma Emerson two small 



NANCY RECOUNTED HER ADVENTURES FROM THE BEGINNING TO 

THE END.” 






































































COMING EVENTS 


177 


packages and a good-sized box, wrapped in the tell- 
tale white paper which most people like to see com- 
ing into the house. 

“ The kinds you like best, Grandma ! ” laughed 
Nancy. “ And a double layer of peppermint creams 
at the bottom ! ” 

Nancy hopped and skipped all the way home. 
Her errand done, she turned her thoughts to the 
next event of the day — the meeting of that after- 
noon. 

Her father drove her up to the Allaire house, 
slowly, for he had much still to say and hear, having 
been deprived of Nancy nearly three days. Besides, 
the afternoon was intensely warm, close and still, 
with the threat of another needed thunder shower 
in the air. Tonic might well be spared undue exer- 
tion. 

Nancy found the Allaire house as cool inside as 
the great Stone House always was. She went 
straight to the drawing-room where were already 
gathered all of her friends, and many acquaintances 
who could not claim the closer name. 

The panelled paper, representing a tiger hunt, 
which had so oppressed Nancy two years before, 
was gone. In its stead the walls were covered with 
a beautiful, heavy gold paper, a dull gold, with 


178 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


greenish lights over it from certain directions, that 
accorded well with the massive old-fashioned furni- 
ture, which had served three or four generations of 
Allaires. 

Miss Dorinda and Miss Belinda Allaire were 
there, Miss Dorinda sitting in her usual dignity, a 
little apart at the end of the room. But Miss Be- 
linda, looking years younger for the animation of 
her face and air, sat in the midst of the girls, with 
Louise at her side ; each held a pad of writing paper 
and a pencil, and both looked up to smile a welcome 
to Nancy, whom Miss Belinda by a gesture invited 
to a vacant chair at her side. 

Nancy accepted the chair and took off her hat. 
“ If you don’t mind? ” she said, dropping it on her 
knees and fanning herself with her handkerchief, 
for she was warm. 

“ You are later than the others, Nancy, so you 
have not heard the discussion,” said Miss Belinda. 
“ It is decided that we are to have a pageant, in 
which old and young will take part, but we are to 
have something pretty, given by the children alone 
— by ‘ children ’ we mean people under twenty — 
young people would be more correct. But what this 
is to be we cannot think. So far nothing has been 
proposed as good as a woodland dance, a costume 


COMING EVENTS 


179 


dance out of doors, or series of tableaux — but my 
objection to that is that it would be so much 
like the pageant, which is a series of tableaux, 
also. Can you suggest something? Louise has 
been inspired by her recent trip to suggest that 
the tableaux might be mediaeval Florentine sub- 
jects. That would be pretty, if it is to be tableaux 
at all.” 

“ Put on your thinking cap, Nancy,” added 
Louise. “ I’m ready to note a suggestion.” 

Nancy glanced at the pad in Louise’s hand and 
saw that there had been many suggestions already 
made and noted by her, which had been crossed off 
as undesirable. 

“ I don’t know,” said Nancy hesitatingly, rather 
abashed by being called upon “ to speak in meet- 
ing.” “ It isn’t easy to think of anything right off, 
you know.” 

“ Don’t we know ! ” cried Louise. “ It isn’t easy 
to think of anything new, anyway.” 

“ Rick will be here soon, right after school ; Rick 
may know something. He’s good at anything that’s 
at all like making believe,” said Nancy. 

“ So are you ! ” cried Amabel Willis from her 
seat on the other side of the room. “ Rick’s no 
better at making believe than you are.” 


180 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ Not one bit,” agreed Doris and Mimi together. 
“ But this isn’t the same, is it ? ” 

“ It’s a good deal like it,” sighed Nancy. “ Only 
when you are playing something make believe it is 
because it comes right into your head to do it ; you 
don’t have to get a rake and a spade to dig for it — 
and you feel like it, besides.” 

Every one laughed, but Nancy was serious. “ If 
I had known we were to suggest things I’d have 
been thinking last night after I went to bed, or 
I’d have got papa to help me, coming up here; 
that would have been best. I don’t know one 
thing!” 

Nancy fanned herself harder and sighed, wiping 
her moist brow with the handkerchief fan. She 
turned her eyes to the window, feeling most uncom- 
fortable with the twofold heat of a warm day and 
embarrassment, and the sense of being wholly with- 
out an idea. As she glanced toward the window 
the blue of the lake caught her eye, barely discern- 
ible through the trees. It looked so cool and re- 
freshing that Nancy’s eyes dwelt upon it longingly ; 
she wished that she were sitting under its bordering 
trees, where there was always a breeze, and where 
the light lapping of the water against its stones 
was cooler than a wind. As she looked, an idea 


COMING EVENTS 


181 


struck her that made her cry : “ Oh ! ” aloud, 
straightening herself and forgetting all about heat, 
discomfort and the lake as she turned a beaming 
face toward Miss Belinda. 

“ You look like a small feminine Christopher 
Columbus, Nancy!” cried Miss Belinda. “What 
have you thought of? ” 

“ It is like Christopher Columbus ! ” laughed 
Nancy, too interested in her idea to be shy in ex- 
plaining it. “ It’s like him, because it is a plan for 
sailing. Could we have an evening celebration on 
the lake? Could we hang Japanese lanterns all 
along the banks of the lake, and trim boats like 
gondolas, and have the children dressed like fairies 
and all sorts of lovely things? And have music on 
the water, and let the boats float all around, then 
let them make figures together, and let them end 
with a procession — would that be any good ? ” 

Nancy was rather frightened as she ended, for 
she was not sure that it would be as pretty as it 
had seemed to her when she first saw the picture 
in her imagination, as she looked out the window 
toward the lake. 

But Miss Belinda and Louise had no doubt. Miss 
Belinda sprang to her feet girlishly. “ Isn’t it 
splendid, everybody?” she cried. “No one has 


182 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

suggested anything half as pretty! We could have 
the pageant the following day, after the water spec- 
tacle — of course the pageant would be given in 
daylight. Shall we vote on accepting Nancy 
Porter’s suggestion? Can any one add to it, or 
make objection to it, either one? No? Then all in 
favour of making the young people’s part of the 
entertainment this water fete — what shall we call 
your lake fete, Nancy?” Miss Belinda interrupted 
herself to ask. 

“ The Water Babies,” said Rick’s voice from 
somewhere, and everybody laughed. 

“ Oh, Rick, when did you come?” cried Nancy, 
leaning forward to look for him. “ I wanted you 
to suggest something.” 

“ I’ve been here a little while,” said Rick, half 
rising from a low stool beside the door. “ Couldn’t 
have beaten your idea, Nancy; it’s great.” 

“ Then shall we vote on it?” Miss Belinda re- 
sumed. “ All in favour of adopting this suggestion 
of Nancy Porter’s please say: Aye! ” 

There was a shout of : “ Aye ! ” in full chorus 
all over the room, and when Miss Belinda called 
for a contrary vote not a voice responded. 

“ Unanimously carried, little Nancy!” said Miss 
Dorinda Allaire, from her dignified aloofness. 


COMING EVENTS 


183 


“ Now I should like to suggest that we have a 
King and Queen of this water revel — ” began 
Louise. 

“ The very name for it, Louise ! ” cried Miss Be- 
linda delightedly. “ I beg your pardon! You were 
going to say a King and Queen of the Water 
Revel?” 

“ Yes, Miss Belinda,” Louise went on. “ Let the 
prettiest girl be chosen and the handsomest boy. 
The girl must wear white that night, with a long 
thin gauzy veil and a glittering crown, and the 
boy — well, I don’t know precisely what the King 
should wear, but something silvery, and showy by 
electric and other artificial lights! And we will fit 
out a royal barge for this pair, and they shall lead 
the revel, and give commands for all the other 
boats to follow. Don’t you think that would be 
effective?” 

“ Beautiful ! ” cried Miss Belinda, actually clap- 
ping her hands like a girl, and everybody took the 
cue from her and applauded Louise’s suggestion. 

“ Let us nominate the prettiest girls now, while 
we are all here together,” said Miss Belinda. “ It 
is well to get as many details settled as possible.” 

“ How shall we nominate?” asked Louise. 

“ By calling out names,” said a tall girl from 


184 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


North Chagford. “ Let any one who thinks a girl 
would be suited to that part propose her aloud.” 

Unexpectedly Maizie Coggs rose up in the meet- 
ing, her rosy face deep red from embarrassment, yet 
entirely self-possessed. “ Ladies and gentlemen,” 
she said. “ I don’t want to put myself forward, but 
I just want to ask a question. Seems to me you 
could save some of that bother; it would take a 
good while to sift those girls down to one. If we 
was — were — voting for the girl everybody in 
these three towns loves best, I guess we wouldn’t 
have to vote at all. I guess Doctor Porter’s little 
girl is the one Chagford, and North Chagford, and 
Chagford Falls knows best and loves best. And I 
guess people like Louise Willis and think she’s 
pretty, but if there ain’t — isn’t — one downright 
prettiest girl in these towns, and right in this room, 
then I’m blind. I’d like to know, honest, if every 
one here doesn’t think Amy — Amabel Willis is the 
prettiest girl here? We Coggses think so, and I 
guess there can’t be two minds about it. So, if we 
do think so, why not vote same’s we did before. I 
nominate Amy Bell — Amabel Willis.” 

Maizie sat down in the midst of a surprised 
silence. She had demanded a good deal in asking 
all the other girls to admit that Amabel was the 


COMING EVENTS 185 

prettiest girl in the three Chagfords — yet, wasn’t 
it true? 

The meeting was obliged to acknowledge that it 
was. While there were many pretty girls, Amabel 
Willis was a beauty, supremely handsome, even at 
fourteen. 

“ Maizie has been learning how to speak, from 
Miss Drummond,” whispered Doris to Nancy, but 
Nancy did not hear her. 

She was watching Amabel, whose face was a 
study. She was crimson, overwhelmed, less by 
being publicly proclaimed the prettiest girl in the 
three towns, for Amabel was not easily embar- 
rassed, than by the fact that Maizie Coggs, Maizie, 
one of the twins whom she scorned and had 
snubbed, had been the one thus to proclaim her! 

“ It’s pretty good of Maizie,” murmured Mimi in 
Nancy’s other ear. 

“ That’s just like her; she isn’t mean,” said 
Nancy. “ And she’s honest. She doesn’t care 
about Amabel, but she thinks she is the prettiest 
girl — so she is! — and she just says so. But of 
course it’s fine of her; there aren’t many girls who 
would do that.” 

In the meantime the meeting was voting, and by 
another unanimous vote had elected Amabel Queen 


186 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


of the Water Revel, the prettiest girl of them 
all! 

“ Now,” said Miss Belinda, rising, “ I should like 
to nominate the King of the Water Revel. I pro- 
pose Richard Lovering; does it please the meet- 
ing ?” 

“Yes! ” shouted a chorus, for Rick’s beauty was 
as perfect as if Praxiteles had carved it in marble. 

After this the meeting broke up; there was no 
more business to be done that afternoon. 

“ Isn’t it exciting? ” said Nancy, taking Rick by 
the coat sleeve to be escorted home. 

“ Don’t touch me, maiden,” commanded Rick 
haughtily. “ I am the King ! ” 

“ Well, if a cat may look upon a king, a doctor’s 
assistant may certainly hold on to his coat sleeve,” 
laughed Nancy. 



CHAPTER XII 

AN (AB) ORIGINAL PLAN 



ANCY sat on the upper step, her el- 
bows on her knees, her chin in her 
hands, her mind in the dumps. It 
was entirely unlike Nancy to be 
glum ; although she was not a 
romping child, but inclined to be 


quiet, as was natural to an only child growing up 
among older people, she was happy all the day long. 
“ Sunny and even-dispositioned,” Letty Hetty cor- 
rectly described Nancy as being, so it was strange 
to see her moping on the upper step, declining even 
the consolation of the piazza chairs or the hammock. 

Mimi and Doris came along and found her so; 
she did not alter her position when she saw them, 
but feebly waved one of the hands that held her 
chin. 

“Hallo, Nancy; what’re you doing?” called 
Mimi, as she and Doris turned in at the gate. 


“ Nothing,” replied Nancy. " Thinking.” 


187 


188 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ What’re you thinking about?” inquired Doris, 
immediately adding : “ I wouldn’t think about it, 
whatever it is; you look fearfully solemn.” 

“ I feel solemn,” said Nancy. “ Who wouldn’t, 
if she had to be that Indian ? ” 

“ What Indian ? Oh, you mean Takatelka ! I 
wonder if that was her real name, anyway! Poca- 
hontas sounds real, but Takatelka — well, I don’t 
know how Indian names ought to sound.” Mimi 
ended her criticism abruptly, realizing her incom- 
petence for it. 

“Her name ought to be Pocy-something ; I’m 
sure she’s pokey enough! ” said Nancy with a reluc- 
tant little laugh. “Yes, I do mean Takatelka! I 
feel as though I could not do it; I’d like to be out 
of the pageant, if I have to be that squaw girl ! But 
I don’t see how I can refuse when Miss Belinda 
asks me to take that part — she’s so perfectly lovely 
to me, teaching me music, because there’s no one 
else here can do it so well, and doing everything 
she can for me, all the time! I couldn’t say no to 
her. Then, of course, in one way I want to do it, 
that is, I love Miss Belinda so much I love to please 
her, but in every other way I just hate to do it.” 

“ What makes you hate it, Nancy? ” asked Doris. 
“ It’s a nice part, I think.” 


AN (AB) ORIGINAL PLAN 


189 


“ Well, I wish you had it! You could make up 
for it, too, with your straight black hair/’ Nancy 
surveyed Doris critically as she spoke. “ Miss Be- 
linda told me if I had curly hair she couldn’t have 
given it to me — I always did wish my hair 
curled ! ” 

Mimi and Doris dropped down beside Nancy. 
“ I don’t see anything bad about it,” said Mimi. 

“To have your skin coloured bronze, and wear 
the Indian costume, and come out in leggings and 
feathers, giving those early settlers the distilled 
herbs that cured them! Well, I’m nearly sure I 
shall not be able to walk out ; my knees will be stiff 
with fright, and I’ll shake so my feather headdress 
will look just like a duster getting shaken out of 
the window on sweeping day!” cried Nancy ener- 
getically. 

Mimi and Doris shouted. “ Oh, Nancy, you do 
say such ridiculous things ! ” cried Mimi. 

“ You’re so good at making believe I should 
think you could do Takatelka splendidly. Can’t 
you play you really are her? Then you’d be all 
right ; that’s the way you and Rick play your funny 
old knights and ladies things.” 

“ Oh, yes, but knights and ladies are different. 
I’m interested in those things, and I’d love to be a 


190 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


chatelaine of the Middle Ages! I wouldn’t be one 
bit shy, because I’d be living right in the romance 
of it,” cried romantic Nancy. 

“ A chatelaine ! You a chatelaine! What in the 
world do you mean? Do you mean wear a chate- 
laine — you couldn’t be one! ” cried Doris, puzzled. 

“ Mercy me, Doris, I do believe you think I mean 
a chatelaine chain!” cried Nancy. “ A chatelaine 
was the mistress of a castle.” 

“ But only think what Takatelka did for Chag- 
ford ! ” remonstrated Mimi, sticking to the point 
with characteristic perseverance. “ If, when those 
few early settlers came here from the Massachusetts 
Bay Colony and got so dreadfully sick, Takatelka 
hadn’t left her own people and brought them those 
wonderful distilled herbs the Indians knew about 
and used, which cured the white men, there wouldn’t 
have been any settlers and there wouldn’t have been 
any Chagford. It’s a great honour to take that 
part.” 

“ Miss Belinda thought so, I know that, and I’m 
not saying a word against Takatelka, so you needn’t 
take her part — I mean you needn’t defend her ; I 
only wish you could take her part! ” Nancy laughed 
again, and felt better for her own mild joke. 

“Anyway, I’m going to be that friendly Indian 


AN (AB) ORIGINAL PLAN 


191 


maiden in the pageant, and I’m a goose to sit here 
hating it. Let’s go up and see how the dolls are,” 
proposed Nancy, rising. 

The three trooped into the attic where Rosamond, 
Dorothy and Leonora had maintained their calm 
pose since that May day when they had been defi- 
nitely relinquished by their young mothers. 

“ It’s a good thing they aren’t wax dolls ! ” ex- 
claimed Doris, gasping, for the afternoon sun of 
early July made the attic suffocatingly warm. 

“ Would it be breaking our word to take them 
down-stairs to look at them? Isn’t it just the same 
as looking at them up here, only not so uncomfort- 
able?” asked Mimi. 

Nancy shook her head decidedly. “ I’d rather 
say right out : * Now I’m going to break my word 
and that’s all there is about it/ than I would to pre- 
tend I was keeping it, and try to make myself be- 
lieve I was keeping it by crawling around with ex- 
cuses, when all the time I wasn’t really keeping it, 
and down in my heart I knew I wasn’t.” 

“ That’s like a girl in school — you know her, 
Nancy; Annie Debney,” said Doris. “ That’s the 
way she is about telling a story. She says she’ll 
never tell a story, but she twists things to make 
what she says true, yet not any farther true than 


192 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


the words of it. Like this : The other day the 
teacher asked her if she was chewing gum in school. 
And Annie had been chewing like everything, all 
the morning, but she whisked her gum out of her 
mouth and stuck it inside the lid of her desk, and 
said, 4 No, she wasn’t chewing.’ Well, of course 
she wasn’t, not that minute, but Miss Chapman 
didn’t mean that minute; she meant was she chew- 
ing at all. Annie stuck to it that wasn’t a lie, be- 
cause she took the gum out, so it should be true, 
but Mimi and I, and some of the others, said it was 
one. Don’t you think it was?” 

“ I think it’s worse than a lie,” said Nancy de- 
cidedly, “ because it’s mean. It is a lie, of course 
it is : it wasn’t a true answer to that question, not 
to what she knew Miss Chapman meant, and it’s 
worse, I think, because the words she said were 
sort of true. It’s like taking poor Truth by the 
hair of her head and making her bow to Lie, and 
then making her let him wear her clothes, so people 
will think he’s she! ” 

“ Nancy, how queer you are ! ” cried Mimi, but 
she meant clever when she said queer. 

“ Well, I don’t admire lying,” said Nancy, “ but 
I perfectly hate sneaking around with just true 
words and no truth underneath them. Girls, it’s 


AN (AB) ORIGINAL PLAN 


193 


too hot to stay up here talking about lying! The 
dolls are all right. I wish we could take them 
down-stairs! But we can’t; we gave them up — 
up attic! ” Nancy laughed her little inward laugh, 
by this time perfectly cheerful. “ If I took back 
Rosamond I’d be an Indian giver, as well as an 
Indian girl in the pageant.” 

“ I don’t believe ‘ king, king, give a thing and 
never take it back again ’ matters so much when 
you’ve only given it to an attic,” said Mimi. “ But 
let’s cover them up again and come on down. I 
don’t really see what we came up for; we aren’t 
doing anything, and it’s just sizzling up here.” 

“Then that’s what we’re doing — sizzling!” 
cried Nancy. But she led the way down the nar- 
row stairs again, and at the foot of the second flight, 
on their way back to the cool piazza, the girls met 
Rick. 

“ What’s up? ” he asked. 

“ Nothing but the three dolls ; we were up, but 
we’re down now,” said Nancy. 

Rick looked at her with a laugh in his eyes, but 
with his lips puckered, suggestively whistling softly : 
“ Smarty, smarty, smarty ! ” 

“ I don’t know what’s the matter with me, Richie ; 
I don’t want to do a single thing, and yet I hate to 


194 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


do nothing,” Nancy said, after acknowledging the 
implied comment with a deep bow. “ I hardly ever 
feel so — so like Bumblebee when her fur’s rubbed 
the wrong way ! I’ve been dismal because I had to 
be Takatelka, and generally horrid.” 

“ That doesn’t sound like you. I don’t see one 
thing the matter with being Takatelka; just you 
wait till the time comes to rehearse and you’ll begin 
to like her,” advised Rick. “ I’ll tell you ! I’ve been 
thinking about it all day. Do you suppose your 
mother and the doctor would let us spend the night 
out of doors? Mimi and Doris stay, and you three 
sleep in the tent — we could put it up out under the 
trees somewhere — and I would patrol all night ! 
Wouldn’t it be great? And it wouldn’t hurt me; 
school is over and I could take a long nap to-mor- 
row. We would play you were three Indian 
maidens, Takatelka and two others — we’d make 
up their names — and you had left your tribe be- 
cause they had driven you out for being kind to the 
palefaces. And I’d be a splendid, brave young 
settler who was guarding the maidens for fear their 
own people would come in the night to murder 
them for having run away to the palefaces for pro- 
tection. Oh, Nancy, really, wouldn’t it be a dandy 


AN (AB) ORIGINAL PLAN 195 

Nancy looked stirred, her eyes dilated, her colour 
came, she fairly panted to begin this delightful 
make-believe at once. 

“ If only they will let us! ” she cried. “ But I’m 
pretty nearly sure they will; they always let us do 
anything nice, and we never did anything half as 
nice as this! You’ll come, Mimi and Doris, won’t 
you — if we do it? ” 

“ Yes,” answered Mimi at once, but Doris hesi- 
tated. “ Of course I will, if I can, but Aunt Augusta 
will never in this world let me sleep out of doors, 
if she knows about it before.” 

“ I’ll get papa to stop and tell her we are going 
to do it when he goes out this evening. She’ll never 
dare say a word against it then ; she’ll think he has 
ordered us to sleep out of doors for our health. 
You know your aunt never asks any questions about 
anything papa wants done,” said Nancy, realizing, 
as did Doris, from past experience, how useful was 
the doctor and his wife’s influence in winning 
favours for the little girl, brought up with trying 
strictness. 

“ He’s coming home now,” announced Rick, 
seeing Tonic approaching. “ The first thing to 
do is to find out if the doctor will say yes, him- 
self.” 


196 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ ‘ Tenting to-night/ eh? ” asked the doctor pull- 
ing Nancy’s hair and laying a hand on Rick’s 
shoulder. “ And all to make the part of Takatelka 
vivid to Nancy?” 

“ No, sir; mostly for fun,” said Rick. 

“ Truth is mighty and must prevail ! ” laughed the 
doctor. “ Well, then this case shall follow the rule! 
You shall have the tent and sleep under the stars — 
but I’m afraid you won’t sleep much ! ” 

“ No, but we can take naps ! ” cried Nancy, jump- 
ing up and down gleefully. “ You are such a dear 
doctor-daddy to see right away how nice it would 
be! Run home and ask if you may stay all night 
with me, Mimi and Doris. And, listen! Wouldn’t 
it be nice to ask Cord to come too ? She’d love it so. 
She could run home early in the morning; we’re 
sure to wake up.” 

“ No doubt of that,” agreed her father. “ I’ll go 
tell Stephen to put up the tent, with my help — 
Rick might lend a hand — and then I’ll go to con- 
vince your mother that you won’t be carried off by 
crickets if you use it.” 

“ And will you please stop to see Miss Clark to- 
night and convince her, too? ” asked Nancy. “ She 
may not let Doris come if she knows about sleeping 
out, so Doris is just going to ask to stay all night, 


AN ( ABORIGINAL PLAN 197 

and leave it for you to tell her that we shall sleep 
in the tent.” 

“ How many times you monkeys make me a cat’s 
paw to pull your chestnuts out of the fire!” the 
doctor growled, but he nodded at Doris that he 
would obtain the pleasure for her, having a constant 
desire to see every child in the’ world happy, every 
moment of life. 

The girls came running back, with Cord in their 
company, something over an hour later, to find the 
tent in its place. The spot chosen for it was shel- 
tered from the road by screening trees, yet open 
on the other side to the much needed breeze, 
for the night promised to be as warm as the 
day. 

Mrs. Porter and Letty Hetty had begun furnish- 
ing it, after Stephen and Rick had laid down the 
fragrant pine boughs and straw which were to be 
the bedsteads. On these Nancy’s mother and Letty 
Hetty spread blankets, more than the little girls 
would need, but, like all good mothers, Mrs. Porter 
expected it to turn cold in the night, expressly to 
harm her ewe lamb. 

Supper was an excited meal, but. Nancy had an- 
other happy thought. 

“ May we take something to eat into the tent, 


198 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

mamma?” she asked. “ If we should happen to 
lie awake we might get hungry.” 

“ Yes, indeed; I had been planning to pack a 
basket for you and one for Rick’s bivouac. I’m 
sure that he would rather have his own rations, like 
any sentry,” said Mrs. Porter. 

“ And so did I think of that,” Letty Hetty chimed 
in. “ I’ve already begun puttin’ a few little things 
together in a basket, cold chicken, some lettuce sand- 
wiches, cookies, a pie — some things like that.” 

“ Mercy ! ” exclaimed Mimi and Doris together, 
while Nancy laughed and hugged Letty Hetty. 

“ Makes me hungry straight off,” declared Cord, 
“ right after supper. I guess we’ll stay awake on 
purpose.” 

“ I had to lose my hour to-night, mamma,” said 
Nancy, as they all went out on the piazza to wait 
till the sunset had entirely faded before taking pos- 
session of the tent. “ To-morrow I must have an 
extra hour at noon — ‘ a noon spell,’ as the farmers 
say.” 

“ All the hours you wish, little daughter,” said 
Nancy’s mother. “ If this heat holds we will take 
our book and go off into the woods for more than 
an hour ; it is all these days are fit for.” 

Nancy perched on the arm of her father’s chair, 


AN ( ABORIGINAL PLAN 199 

leaned her cheek over on the top of his head and 
watched the sunset burn and brighten, fade to pinks 
and violets, flame again into pure, pulsating gold of 
the afterglow and then die away into the tinted, 
diminishing grays of twilight and the colourless 
purity of night and the starshine. Mimi and Cord 
had been fidgeting through this delay in starting 
on their adventure. Rick’s politeness and Doris’ 
training in self-repression had been severely 
strained, but now, at last, Nancy turned and gave 
her father his good-night kiss, saying: “Well, we 
can go now ! ” 

Mrs. Porter had provided light woollen jackets 
and wrappers, one for each little girl to sleep in — 
or to lie awake in, which seemed more likely. 

“ Oh, Mrs. Porter, when it’s so awful hot ! ” pro- 
tested Cord. 

“ Two and three o’clock in the morning are dif- 
ferent from nine at night, Cordie. You are not 
used to sleeping out. Please put this on to oblige 
me, then,” Mrs. Porter plead, and Cord said no 
more; all the children would do anything at any 
time that either the doctor or his wife asked of them, 
because these two were always their sworn allies 
and lovers. 

“ Good night, Aborigines,” said the doctor. 


200 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

“Good night, -Captain Miles Standish, or whatever 
be your honoured name.” 

Rick saluted. “ ‘ Richard of the Wilderness/ re- 
spected sir. I have chosen to hide my family name 
because my younger brother has taken my estates, 
believing me dead, and I will never disturb him/’ he 
replied. 

“ Good night, Takatelka, and you three Indian 
maidens, whose names I have not heard,” added 
Mrs. Porter, kissing each little girl as their faces 
were upturned for it, and Nancy over again, last, 
for good measure. 

“ Good night ! ” shouted back the tenters as they 
walked across the lawn and were lost to sight in 
the shadow. 


CHAPTER XIII 


INDIAN GIVERS 



■\ HE inside of the tent was delightful 
Dark, and somewhat stuffy, it envel- 
oped the children with its mystery as 
soon as they entered it, letting the 
canvas flap that served as door fall 
behind them. Outside was the half- 
light of a clear summer night, moonless, but radiant 
with stars. Inside there was no light, only, as the 
eye got sufficiently accustomed to the murkiness, the 
streak, that was rather lessened darkness than light, 
around the base of the tent, where the sides rose up 
slightly from the ropes fastening it to its stakes, and 
the crack that marked the entrance. 

“ Isn't it splendid?” whispered Nancy, recoiling 
from the pole against which she had struck her fore- 
head. “It's the most mysterious place! I could 
imagine anything in here.” 

“Don't you whisper, Nancy! What are you 
whispering for? There isn’t any one near us, and, 
201 


202 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

anyhow, you aren’t saying anything they couldn’t 
hear. If you whisper I shall go outside and sit on 
something all night long,” cried Doris. 

The other four burst out in a laugh that should 
have allayed Doris’ nervousness. 

“ It’s more fun to be mysterious,” declared Nancy. 

“ Is it ! ” exclaimed Doris. “ I don’t see why. 
It’s creepy out here, and I’d rather hear loud talk- 
ing. Can’t we have a light?” 

“ I have some candles,” said Nancy, diving into 
a bag that hung on her arm. “ But light will bring 
in all the mosquitoes and moths and those clumsy 
hard things, that batter themselves so dreadfully, 
that there are in Christendom. Let’s go to bed in 
the dark.” 

“ Don’t go to bed in anything, yet,” remonstrated 
Rick. “ I’ve got to bivouac all night, and it will 
seem long.” 

“What is it? How do you do it?” inquired 
Cord. 

“ Oh, it’s camping without tents,” explained Rick 
with a laugh. “ I’m going to march up and down, 
guarding you, probably all night; I shall not be 
sleepy. But if I am I shall roll myself in a blanket 
and lie down wherever I happen to be.” 

“ Well, I’d look out I didn’t happen to be on a 


INDIAN GIVERS 203 

rock when I got sleepy,” commented Mimi, with a 
giggle. 

“ I might move a few feet off if I did get sleepy 
on one,” Rick vouchsafed. “ I wish you girls would 
choose names. Nancy is Takatelka and I’m Richard 
of the Wilderness, a nobleman born, but concealing 
my name and title. Now you three others are In- 
dian maidens, driven out by your tribe, so taking 
refuge with the white settlers. What will you take 
for your names ? ” 

“ Gracious, I don’t know a single one ! ” cried 
Doris. 

“ Minnehaha ! ” announced Mimi triumphantly. 

“ Ha-ha, Minnie ! ” cried Cord, and the others 
shrieked with laughter, though they could not tell 
whether Cord meant to be funny and was clever, 
or whether this hit was an accident. 

“You can’t take such a name as that; that’s a 
white name, Minnie!” said Nancy. “Mimi can 
be Minnehaha; that’s all right. I wish I had 
thought of looking in Hiawatha for more : I forgot 
that we should need them.” 

“ The only thing I know about Indian names and 
talk is that when they’re in books they just grunt. 
It’s all Woughs and ugh and things like that! 
Really, if you were writing pig language it would 


204 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


look just like Indian language in stories! ” declared 
Doris disgustedly. 

“ That’s true,” agreed Mimi. “ Rick and Nancy, 
you must name Doris and Cord.” 

“ All right,” Rick accepted the commission in 
part. “ Doris shall be Oogawoosha ; that is about 
the way she says Indian language sounds. Now, 
Nancy, you name Cord.” 

Nancy considered. “ Cord shall be Alla- 
soota; that’s not a bad name,” she announced at 
last. 

“ You mean all to suit her ! ” cried Rick. “ That’s 
just as good; let’s call her Altasoota for fun.” 

“No; Nancy named me Allasoota, and that’s 
what my name is,” declared Cord decidedly. 

“ Did you ever in all your life hear such names? ” 
cried Mimi. “ If anybody came around in the night 
all we’d have to do is call out: Wake up, Altasoota, 
Minnehaha, Takatelka, Oogawoosha! and they’d 
simply scoot. They’d think we were part of an 
insane asylum, put outside to sleep because we were 
dangerous ! ” 

“ Well, that’s a good thing,” said Nancy. “ But 
nobody’ll come around in our own grounds, and 
you mustn’t talk about it because Doris is fidgety. 
Let’s go to bed now. Sorry, Rick, but you’ve got 


INDIAN GIVERS 205 

to go on guard sometime, and it will seem long no 
matter how late we go to bed.” 

“ That’s so,” said Rick. “ Good night, my fair 
red maidens. I hope you will sleep well, and re- 
member that the noble Englishman that guards you 
is grateful and will not suffer your tribe to come 
and take you away. Say, if any of you girls wake 
up and want to come out to talk to me in the night, 
I’d be glad, because it will be yards long.” With 
which abrupt transition from the stilted language 
of romance to every-day school-boy American Rick 
departed to amuse himself with his lively imagina- 
tion by acting the part of the sentry of the friendly 
Indian maidens’ tent. 

“ We won’t undress,” said Mimi decidedly. 
“ We’ll take off our dresses and put on the things 
your mother wants us to wear, and take off our 
shoes, but I won’t lie down to sleep out of doors 
regularly undressed.” 

“ No,” said Nancy. “ I didn’t mean to, either. 
But we must be comfortable.” 

So they made themselves comfortable with un- 
fastened waists and bands, slipped on the soft 
woollen garments which already began to feel wel- 
come as the dews and the depths of green around 
and above the tent cooled its small interior. 


206 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


The four little girls lay down on their bed of 
fragrant branches, which were unexpectedly springy 
and comfortable, thickly spread above and below 
with soft blankets and eider lined c^iilts. 

Each of the others was so anxious to sleep with 
Nancy that they drew lots by the light of her candle, 
which she lit for that purpose, and hurriedly ex- 
tinguished. 

Cord jubilantly flourished her victory, repre- 
sented by the longest strip, and Nancy, seeing how 
downcast Mimi and Doris looked as she blew out 
the candle, said : 

“ We'll begin this way, but we can change around 
in the night, if we happen to wake up. I suppose 
we shall sleep like tops, though, it’s so lovely out 
here.” 

With which remark the four dropped themselves 
in pairs on the two beds, with a sigh apiece of sat- 
isfaction. 

Immediately Doris sat up. “ What’s that? ” she 
cried sharply. 

Then Rick’s voice reached them from outside. 
“Who goes there?” he challenged. 

Mimi and Doris clutched each other in the dark, 
Cord, who did not know what fear was, said : “ I 
bet Letty Hetty’s coming round to scare us ! ” 


INDIAN GIVERS 207 

“ No, Letty Hetty wouldn’t do that,” whispered 
Nancy, her heart in her throat. 

“ Who goes there? ” repeated Rick. “ A friend? 
Advance, then, friend, and give the countersign.” 
There was silence, and the strained ears of the girls 
could hear no step. Then the flap of the tent lifted 
and they all screamed but Cord, who sat up, star- 
ing in the dark, and boldly demanded : “ Who’s 
that?” 

There was no answer, but something sniffed rap- 
idly, and Fred bounded up on the bed, over Cord 
headlong, and began to lick and chew Nancy’s 
hands, whining and sobbing with joy. 

“ Oh, that horrid, horrid dog ! ” gasped Doris, 
dropping back on her pillow with the indignation 
of a reaction after a thorough fright. 

“ No, indeed ! He’s a darling to miss me and 
find me! ” said Nancy indignantly. “ Lie down on 
the foot of your mother’s bed, Fredlings, darling, 
and you shall stay here all night.” 

Rick marched up to the door of the tent. 
“ Frightened, Takatelka, Minnehaha, Allasoota, 
Oogawoosha? It was but a devoted friend, that 
begged me to allow him to share my work of guard- 
ing you. Do not fear; I will not suffer you to be 
captured.” 


208 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ Oh, Rick, talk sensible ! ” exclaimed Doris pet- 
tishly. “ It’s awful to keep up such a string! ” 
Nancy opened her lips to protest, but it was so 
dark that no one saw her, and, reflecting that Doris 
was too nervous to enjoy this night of witchery as 
the others did, she made no comment on her spoil- 
ing Rick’s fine flow of making-believe. 

For a long time the little girls talked, told stories, 
sang, and for a while Rick added a word, or a voice 
to the song when his sentry march brought him 
near the door. Then he dropped out of sound alto- 
gether, and the “ Indian maidens ” wondered 
whether he could have gone to sleep. 

The night grew still, so still that the hours and 
the movement of the world seemed to have stopped. 
It was so still that Nancy, lying silent, for the four 
little Indians had ceased to chatter, felt as though 
she were sunken into a depth like the bottom of a 
lake, where no one had ever been before, and where 
no one could ever reach her. 

Cord fell asleep at last, but Mimi and Doris were 
awake, as Nancy discovered by a whispered ques- 
tion once in a while. In imagination she could feel 
them holding tight to each other, for nothing but 
fear could have kept them silent so long. Nancy 
was not afraid, not in the sense of dreading any 


INDIAN GIVERS 


209 


danger, but delicious thrills of nervousness ran up 
and down her spine as she listened in the darkness 
to the silence of the night. Suddenly, out of the 
stillness rose a cry, quavering, shrill, desolate. It 
made Nancy’s pulses leap and then stop for an in- 
stant. She heard Doris groan and Mimi moved 
so quickly and violently that Nancy knew she had 
dove down under the blankets. 

The cry came again, nearer, clearer, more awful, 
yet in its repetition Nancy recognized it for the 
complaint of a little owl, and she laughed. 

“ Don’t laugh ! ” came in muffled tones from 
Doris. 

“ Is that Rick scaring us ? ” asked Mimi indis- 
tinctly from her blanket burrow. 

“ No; it’s an owl! Don’t you hear it?” laughed 
Nancy. “ It frightened me dreadfully at first. 
Let’s get up and go out.” 

“ Goodness ! I guess I won’t ! ” said Doris em- 
phatically. “ And Aunt Augusta is right ; it’s 
horrid sleeping out of doors in a tent.” 

“ I don’t think it would be horrid sleeping out 
of doors, but it is a little horrid lying awake — yet 
even that isn’t so bad. It’s so still, though ! I never 
knew anything could be so still — I never even 
knew nothing could be so still ! ” 


210 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


Nancy laughed again, and the other two heard 
her rise and her feet drop on the tent floor with a 
soft, pit-a-pat. “ I’m going out. I wish one of 
you would come, but I’m going, anyway. I’d like 
to move around, and I’m going to find out what 
Rick’s doing. Then, maybe, if we ate some of the 
things Letty Hetty gave us we’d go to sleep.” 

“ I wouldn’t go outside for a mint of money, 
and I want Mimi to stay with me to keep me com- 
pany, if you go out,” said Doris. 

“What kind of mint is a mint of money?” 
asked Cord unexpectedly, having awakened in this 
conversation. “ Is it peppermint, spearmint, or 
what?” 

“ It’s the mint where they make money, gold and 
silver money,” said Doris. 

“ As though you didn’t know it wasn’t plant 
mint, Cordie!” cried Nancy. “You come with 
me, and let Mimi and Doris keep safe together, if 
they want to.” 

“How many candles did you bring, Nancy?” 
asked Mimi. “ I wish we could burn them the rest 
of the night.” 

“ W e could, I suppose ; it gets light by four now, 
maybe earlier,” said Nancy. “ But we’d be eaten 
up by insects. We’d look just like that model of 


INDIAN GIVERS 


211 


Jerusalem they’ve bought for the Sunday-School, 
the papier mache one, with the hills all raised in 
lumps.” 

“ Oh, dear ! ” sighed Mimi wearily. “ I believe 
I’d just as soon look all lumpy as lie here in the 
dark where I can’t look at anything.” 

“ We are playing we are Indian maidens,” said 
Nancy, suddenly recalling this fact. “ We ought 
to keep it up all the time, in our own minds. Then 
we’d enjoy to-night more, and besides, we said we’d 
do that. I’m sure Rick is keeping up his part every 
minute! Just think how crazy we were to try stay- 
ing in the tent all night ! ” 

“ I should say we were ! Crazy as loons, or we 
wouldn’t have done it ! ” Doris agreed with her by 
a perversion of Nancy’s meaning. 

Nancy gave up persuading Mimi and Doris to 
try to be content, as well as in tent, lifted the flap 
and crept out into the night, followed by faithful 
Cord at her heels — but Cord was always ready 
for any adventure. 

It was so beautiful standing under the dome of 
the sky, all bright with stars, luminously crossed 
by the Milky Way, feeling the soft, cool breeze of 
the hour after midnight drift over their faces, that 
Nancy and Cord stood perfectly still for a little 


212 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


while letting the wonders of that solemn, lonely 
beauty sink into their souls. 

Cord stirred first. “ I didn’t know the middle 
of the night was so nice,” she said. “ Where’d you 
s’pose Rick got to?” 

“ He must be doing sentry work over on the 
other side of the tent somewhere, Allasoota,” 
returned Nancy. “ We’ll walk around and find 
him.” 

They walked around — and they found him ! 
That noble young Englishman, Sir Richard of the 
Wilderness, had tried heroically to do his self-ap- 
pointed work of guarding the four young Indian 
maidens, but the heaviness of sleep had swamped 
him. He had rolled himself up in his blanket, in 
approved bivouac fashion, and had lain down on the 
grass to sleep the sleep of a healthy youth of his 
brief years! 

“Well, I declare! The only one of our camp 
that is asleep is our guardian!” exclaimed Nancy. 

Rick stirred, hearing her reproach in his sleep, sat 
up, rubbed his eyes, yawned from the deepest depths 
of himself, and jumped up. 

“ How — did — you — wake — up ? ” he stam- 
mered. Then he realized where they were and what 
they were doing, and was fully awake. 


INDIAN GIVERS 213 

“ Takatelka and — and — ” he hesitated. “ And 
Oldsnoozer — ” 

“ Allasoota ! ” Cord corrected him indignantly. 

“ That’s it ! I beg your pardon, but I never knew 
a single Indian till I came to the New World, and 
their names are hard to me,” the knight apologized. 
“ Allasoota 'and Takatelka, why are you wander- 
ing around ? What made you wake up ? ” 

“ Nobody’s been asleep, except Allasoota for a 
few little minutes, and you,” said Takatelka, with a 
twinkle that was visible in the starlight. “We 
came out to see where you were ; we wondered why 
we didn’t hear you marching. Minnehaha and 
Oogawoosha are scared. An owl came and 
screeched, and it made us all pretty nearly stiff, 
till we found out what it was. Sir Richard, we 
are going to eat a supper, or a breakfast, or what- 
ever it ought to be called, out of our basket. Don’t 
you want some ? ” 

“ Yes, I do ! I mean : Thank you, fair Copper 
Maiden. I will right gladly accept your kind in- 
vitation to enter your tent and share your meal,” 
replied the guardian gallantly. 

“ Minnehaha, Oogawoosha, please bring the 
basket out here ; we’re going to eat under the stars, 
sitting on the grass, after the fashion of our tribe,” 


214 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

announced Takatelka, putting her head in at the 
opening. 

Mimi and Doris quickly obeyed her summons, 
and appeared, rumpled and somewhat out of sorts 
for lack of sleep, with the basket between them. 
They dropped down on the grass, Sir Richard, 
Takatelka and Allasoota beside them, and Fred, be- 
traying the liveliest interest in this phase of the 
peculiar night, came and wriggled himself between 
his mistress and the guard, not intending to be for- 
gotten in the division of viands. Mimi and Doris 
cheered up as they munched on slices of chicken 
held in one hand and alternating bites of the lettuce 
sandwich held in the other. 

Letty Hetty had judged wisely that the tenting 
band would not sleep much, but would be, therefore, 
capable of eating much. She had put up a hearty 
meal for five, yet there was left of it only two 
scrubby broken lettuce sandwiches, some large cake 
crumbs and some chicken skin when the repast was 
over — -and these Fred disposed of at the first 
suggestion. 

“ We ought to be able to go to sleep now,” 
said Nancy, shaking the basket for Fred’s bene- 
fit. 

“ I suppose we couldn’t get into the house, your 


INDIAN GIVERS 215 

house, without waking everybody up?” remarked 
Mimi, to the stars apparently. 

“ My, don’t I wish we could ! ” exclaimed Doris 
fervently. “ Now, honest, Nancy, we’ve tried it, 
and we wanted to try it, but what’s the use of going 
back into that tent? It’s dreadful, so lonesome! 
And out here, in the middle of the night — ugh ! ” 
Doris shuddered. 

“ That was exactly like an Indian,” giggled 
Mimi. “ But it isn’t much like one to want to go 
back into the house, is it? Still, I do, too.” 

“ It isn’t one bit like one,” said Nancy sadly. “ I 
don’t care so very, very much about staying out the 
rest of the night myself, but I would do it, and I’d 
never have said so, if you hadn’t.” 

“ We wouldn’t wake them up, though, so what’s 
the use ? ” said Cord. 

" Mamma told me she would leave the low win- 
dow in the pantry unfastened, in case ” admitted 
Nancy. 

Rick laughed, tumbling over on the grass. “ Oh, 
but your mother does know things ! ” he cried. “ I 
don’t mind going home, but I hate to give up any- 
thing, and I can go to sleep on the grass just as 
well as I did.” 

“ I hate to give up things, too,” agreed Nancy. 


216 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ But we haven’t slept, and I don’t suppose we shall, 
and we could crawl in that window without any 
one hearing us, and go to sleep in my room and 
the guest room, if Mimi and Doris want to.” 

“ We do,” said Doris. “ There isn’t any sense 
in being out here alone. I’m fidgety enough to fly, 
and creeps go crawling over me — and bugs, too, 
I’m sure of it ! ” 

“ All right. Camp’s broken,” said Rick. “ We’ll 
just cut over to the house; nobody’ll be here to 
touch anything.” 

The five, with Fred approving, walked swiftly 
across the grass to the house, the sickle of an old 
moon rising to add its light to the brilliant night. 

At the pantry window Cord was first “ boosted.” 
Rick turned to the three larger girls. 

“ You’re all Indians, all right!” he said. “In- 
dian givers. You give yourselves to the tent for the 
night, and then you take yourselves away from it 
again.” 

“ I don’t care ; Mimi and I feel better already,” 
said Doris, clambering up like a cat, without wait- 
ing for help. 

“ Will you be any better able to take the part of 
Takatelka in the pageant, Nancy?” asked Rick, 
laughing. 


INDIAN GIVERS 


217 


“ I believe I shall be,” Nancy answered. “ I lay 
there imagining I was an Indian maiden, till I be- 
lieve I do know more about one.” 

She followed Doris then, with a hand from Rick, 
Mimi came next, Rick last of all, and quietly they 
crept up-stairs to civilized beds, and to sleep. 



vt 


CHAPTER XIV 


SEWING AND SOWING 



HAGFORD was practically nothing 
but a rehearsal. Every day rehear- 
sals for the pageant went on, re- 
hearsals of solos, duets, quartettes, 
choruses, rehearsals of single, a few, 
many, whole groups of performers 
— not yet rehearsals of the entire thing. These 
were to come later, when all these separate rehear- 
sals were to be combined into a smooth sequence of 
the whole, and the professional leader of the orches- 
tra, the professional trainer of the actors, would 
take it all in hand for vigorous work. The pageant 
was taking on far greater proportions than Miss 
Belinda Allaire had foreseen in proposing it. 

The pageant would not be given until September, 
a time not too far distant to allow the performers 
to perfect themselves in their parts. 

In the meantime Nancy was having pleasant 
summer hours of playtime between her hours of 
218 



SEWING AND SOWING 


219 


drilling for the pageant. It was quite decided that 
she was to be Takatelka, the Indian girl who had 
saved the lives of Chagford’s founders, hence the 
life of Chagford itself, by bringing them distilled 
herbs, compounded after the knowledge of her tribe, 
when they were ill to death, many miles from the 
Massachusetts Bay Colony, on this spot which was 
to be the site of Chagford. 

Nancy had grown reconciled to her role, the most 
important one of those enacted by the younger girls 
in the pageant, though she still dreaded the day 
when, in her russet short skirt, leather leggings, 
feathers, beads and bright stripes of trimming, she 
should walk out before the great audience to im- 
personate the deliverer. But the evil of that day 
would be sufficient to itself; in the meantime she 
was having a happy and crowded summer. 

She sat on the arm of her father’s chair one after- 
noon, curling his hair on her fingers while he was 
waiting for her mother to get ready to go with him 
for a night and a day spent with an old college 
friend of his. Nancy did not mind staying with 
Letty Hetty for so short a time without them, and 
Rick would be there to keep her company. 

Mrs. Porter’s step was heard on the stairs and the 
doctor arose hastily. 


220 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


" You must have made me look like a son of 
Medusa and Jim Crow! ” he said. “ I must get my 
hair in order, or your mother will travel in the 
opposite direction from me! Nancy, what a nui- 
sance you are ! ” 

“Yes, sir; that’s why I am your assistant — I 
assist you in being a nuisance to Mrs. Porter ! ” said 
Nancy. “ Doctor Mark Porter is all ruffled up, 
mamma,” she added to her mother, just arrived 
on the scene, as her father hurried off to put him- 
self again in order. “ Fve been curling his hair 
while he was talking to me and he has gone to brush 
it. He isn’t very grateful for the way I work to 
make him beautiful! He’ll be right back, he said.” 

“ Oh, well, there’s plenty of time,” said the doc- 
tor’s wife, one of whose most delightful traits was 
that she never got flustered when she was going 
out. 

Nancy watched Stephen drive her father and 
mother away, and then sat in the hammock awhile, 
idly looking down the driveway where they had 
disappeared. Already she was counting the hours 
till she should see them returning, for there was 
something wrong with all of Nancy’s world when 
these two beloved people were out of reach. 

Finally Nancy pulled herself up from the ham- 


SEWING AND SOWING 


221 


mock and wandered out, across the lawn, and out 
toward the upper side of her father’s place, where 
the tent had been placed for the five children’s 
camping night. Fred, at her heels, bounced and 
barked along and Bumblebee followed awhile, then 
sat down to wash her face and await her mistress’ 
return. 

Nancy wandered aimlessly toward the tent. Be- 
ing there, equally aimlessly, she lifted the flap to 
enter. She started back, badly frightened, for there, 
face downward on one of the bough beds, now 
stripped of covering, lay a woman. 

Nancy began to run toward home, then she 
stopped herself, and stood debating. Her father 
was away, her mother, too; Stephen was not in the 
house to help her, Letty Hetty was busy. Nancy 
herself was properly the head of the house, left 
alone to represent the family. She turned and re- 
traced her steps, no longer running, but not allow- 
ing herself to lag, though she was tempted to. 

Nancy this time walked into the tent, up to the 
prostrate figure and lifted its head, fearing what 
she should see. But the woman was not dead. 
Nancy had seen enough of illness to know that this 
was a faint ; plainly the first thing that the doctor’s 
assistant must do was to revive this stranger. 


222 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


Beyond the tent, not far from it, there was a 
spring. Nancy pulled her patient over on her back, 
heaped the boughs higher under her head and ran as 
fast as her feet would carry her in pursuit of water. 

The doctor had fastened a German stone drinking 
stein to a rock beside the spring, and Nancy pulled 
with all the strength of her delicate hands to break 
its chain. Not succeeding this way, she took a 
jagged stone, held the chain taut with her foot, and 
struck it several times. It parted and Nancy caught 
up the stein, filled it at the spring, and ran, faster 
than she had come, back to her patient. 

She found her struggling toward partial con- 
sciousness and with a quiet skill tha*t merited her the 
title of the doctor’s little assistant, Nancy put the 
cold water to the woman’s parted lips and gently 
sprinkled and bathed her temples and wrists with 
the corner of her handkerchief wet in the fresh 
water. 

Nancy’s patient opened her eyes, gasped and tried 
to sit up. Nancy then noticed for the first time how 
young she was, not much older than Louise Willis, 
and that she was pretty. 

“ Lie still,” said Nancy gently. “ You are not 
strong enough to get up.” 

“ Who are you ? ” asked the girl. 
































. 

































SEWING AND SOWING 


223 


“ Papa says I am his assistant/’ smiled Nancy. 
“ My father is Doctor Porter, so, if I am his assist- 
ant, it is right for me to take care of you. After 
you have rested a little I shall help you to walk 
down to the house, and take better care of you.” 

The girl began speaking; she spoke slowly, feebly, 
but she seemed anxious to explain herself. By de- 
grees she said : “ I came to see your mother last 
month, to ask for sewing, but she was in Boston, 
and the woman that works for you didn’t seem to 
think there would be anything for me to do here. 
I have been staying at the Falls; I had a room 
there, but — well, my money gave out and I have 
not had much to eat lately. I started to come to 
see your mother, to ask her to give me sewing to 
do, this afternoon. I felt queer, ill, so I turned into 
this tent to get out of the hot sun. I suppose I 
fainted and you found me. My name is Dean 
Okley.” 

“Why, Dean is a boy’s name!” cried Nancy. 

“ It is my name, and I am not a boy,” said the 
girl with a shadow of a smile. “It is a surname; 
it was my mother’s maiden name.” 

“ Not that it matters whether it is a boy’s name 
or a girl’s,” added Nancy. “ You poor thing; I’m 
so sorry ! But you needn’t worry one bit. Mamma 


224 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


will get you sewing — Oh, I know ! Why, we’ll 
settle it right off, so you can feel better and sleep 
well to-night ! I’ll get you sewing myself ! I’ll tell 
Miss Belinda Allaire, and she will have you make 
costumes for the pageant! They’ve been talking 
about getting some one. Isn’t that lucky? All 
you’ve got to do is to get strong enough to work, 
and I know there’ll be no end of it for you. Now, 
you come down to the house with me — can you, 
if I help you? You can lay your hand on my 
shoulder and we’ll walk like snails. You can go 
right to bed after you’ve had a good supper, and 
begin to get strong enough to sew as soon as you 
fall asleep!” 

“ I’m not sick; I’m — hungry,” Dean said, and a 
faint blush stole up into her white cheeks, for she 
was not of the sort to whom it is easy to acknowl- 
edge poverty. 

“ Letty Hetty is the best cook in all Chagford,” 
said Nancy cheerfully, with the instinctive tact that 
made her beloved by every one. “ We’ll plan what 
we’d like for supper as we go down; it ought to 
help you to walk.” She laughed softly. “ I’m hun- 
gry, too. I think Letty Hetty has some beef stock ; 
we’ll have soup, shall we ? And a little broiled steak 
and some of Letty Hetty’s delicious foamy mashed 


SEWING AND SOWING 


225 


potatoes, and some boiled rice, and fruit — does that 
sound good ? Then try to walk down to get it ! ” 

The girl arose with tears in her eyes, tears of 
weakness and of gratitude for the kindness this 
little girl showed her, the gentleness that took her 
in and treated her as if she were not a stranger. 

Dean trembled, but shook her head when Nancy 
offered her shoulder as a support. “ I can walk 
without troubling you, dear little doctor’s assistant ! 
Your name is not hard to understand! ” she said. 

They walked slowly, very slowly, down to the 
house, often pausing and finally with Dean’s hand 
resting on Nancy’s shoulder as she grew more tired. 

Arrived on the piazza Nancy put the stranger 
into the hammock, pushed the down pillows into 
place beneath her head, and ran away to pour 
rapidly out to Letty Hetty the story of her adven- 
ture. 

Letty Hetty could not have been so long the in- 
mate of the doctor’s home and the trusted friend 
of his family that she was had she not had a great 
heart under her gaunt exterior and crisp manner. 

“ Well, Jerusalem Halifax Gentleman! ” she cried 
now. “ To think that I discouraged the poor girl 
from cornin’ back to ask for sewin’ till she’d like 
to have starved to death for lack of funds! I’m 


226 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


sure I’d no idea of discouragin’ her so completely. 
I said I didn’t know whether or not Mrs. Porter 
had any work; that she was pestered all the time 
with one application or another! You did just 
right, Nancy, to bring her down here. We’ll get 
her a good supper, and put her to bed right after 
it in the little yellow bed-room. In the meantime 
I’m goin’ to take her — or let you — a glass of 
your mother’s grape juice and a thin slice of bread 
and butter to eat with it. That’ll get her ready for 
solid things — and I’ll see she has a supper, poor 
child ! ” 

Dean drank the grape juice, ate the thin, fine 
bread and sank back into the hammock to rest with 
a feeling of confidence and peace that warmed her 
heart as the warm grape juice warmed her chilled 
veins. 

Later she certainly had the supper that Letty 
Hetty’s tone of speaking of it to Nancy implied 
that she would have, and went immediately to a long 
and sweet night’s rest in the small yellow bed-room 
at the further end of the hall, where voices, if there 
were any, could not reach her. 

And a little later there were voices, many of 
them! Nancy and Rick sat on the piazza discussing 
Dean Okley, her curious name, her pathetic pretti- 


SEWING AND SOWING 


227 


ness, which was of a drooping, frail sort, her far 
more pathetic story, when the Coggs automobile 
rushed down the street and stopped at the doctor’s 
gate. Instantly its door burst open and all four 
of the double twins flew out, followed by Miss 
Drummond, and ran up the steps, hailing Nancy 
with: “Hallo, dear little Nancy! We knew you 
were alone, so we came down. We’re a surprise 
party ! ” 

“ Are you? ” asked Nancy, “ I’m glad you came.” 

“ We’re always a surprise party,” declared Taizie. 
“ Don’t we always surprise everybody ? The rest 
are on their way ; we passed ’em — Louise and 
Amabel Willis, Mimi, Doris and Cordie, all coming 
to see you.” 

“ What fun ! ” cried Nancy. “ Miss Drummond, 
please take this rocker; mamma likes it best. I 
have a surprise for you, too, all of you. I’m glad 
you came to-night; I could hardly wait till to-mor- 
row to see if you’d do what I want you to.” 

“ Sure we will — I mean, indeed we will ! ” Daisy 
corrected herself in response to a warning smile and 
a lifted eyebrow from Miss Drummond. “ We’re 
just as certain to do it as we are to like it. Do 
you notice how we’re getting on? We hardly 
ever say ‘ you was ’ now, nor ‘ ain’t,’ nor — oh, 


228 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


there are more of ’em, but I can’t think what they 
are this minute ! Miss Drummond’s the best 
ever!” 

“ Oh, Daisy, what a fall ! When you were boast- 
ing your improvement ! ” laughed Miss Drummond. 
“ ‘ The best ever!”’ 

“ The best teacher ever was,” said Daisy, un- 
abashed. “ We can’t remember every single thing, 
every single time, but we’re getting there! I mean 
we are getting trained,” Daisy added hastily as her 
hearers laughed. “ When we have gone so far we 
don’t slip up on some things we have been trying to 
keep hold of we’re going to call her by her first 
name, Rhoda. She isn’t much older than we are, 
and we’re going to be real friends.” 

“ I thought we were real friends now, Daisy, 
dear,” said Rhoda Drummond, with an affectionate 
look at Daisy. 

Nancy watched Miss Drummond. She looked 
happy, well, pretty, young. How different from 
the pallid girl whom she had visited that morning 
with the doctor! Nancy wondered if that other, 
younger girl up-stairs, the little sempstress whom 
she had discovered that afternoon, might also be 
helped into happiness, which means health. 

“ Nancy brought us together,” said Miss Drum- 


SEWING AND SOWING 229 

mond as if answering Nancy’s thought. “ We 
are all grateful to our little Nancy! ” 

The other three little girls came up at that mo- 
ment, under Louise’s protection, and those already 
arrived made room for them on the piazza. 

“ We just came to have some fun, Nancy,” said 
Cord. 

“Would you let me tell you something first?” 
asked Nancy. “ I was going to see you all in the 
morning, but you’ve come. I felt as though I 
couldn’t wait, anyway.” 

“ Surely, Nancy, dear,” said Louise. “ We’ll sit 
as still as mice while you tell us your story, or con- 
fess your wickedness — which is it?” 

She drew Nancy close to her, having discovered 
the shy, but profound admiration for her which the 
little girl felt. 

“ Oh, wait a moment ! ” cried Rick, with an in- 
spiration. He ran into the house and came out with 
his violin. 

“ I’m going to play an accompaniment for the 
story,” he said. 

Nancy glanced at him, understanding — Rick and 
she always understood each other. He was going to 
make a thread of tender, pathetic music wind in 
and about the tale of the little sempstress, poor, 


230 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


homeless, fainting from hunger on the bare bough 
bed in the deserted tent. And the music of a violin, 
when it chooses to tell the story of suffering, can 
so tell it that it clutches the heart and makes it re- 
spond with pity. 

“ I hope I can make them care about her ! ” 
thought Nancy. “ I’m sure they will, but, if they 
don’t, there are mamma, papa and the Misses 
Allaire. Girls,” she said aloud, “ this is a true 
story; I am part of it and some one else, and all of 
you are to be part of it, too ! ” 

Smiling, Rick played chords and little subdued 
flourishes as Nancy spoke, meaning to say : “ Girls, 
this is the prelude ! ” 

Nancy told the story of the little sempstress well, 
simply, gently, with pity and appeal in the silvery, 
sweet voice which, on any subject, found its way 
into hearts. And as she told the story Rick played, 
lovely, soft minor melodies into which Nancy’s voice 
unconsciously fell, leaning on the violin and follow- 
ing it. 

“ Now,” said Nancy, ending amid the silence of 
her audience, “ what I want to do, Louise, girls, is 
to tell Dean Okley when I go up-stairs to bed to- 
night that all of you will let her sew for you. Will 
you? Then she will know right away that she is 


SEWING AND SOWING 


231 


safe. Will you let her make costumes for the 
pageant, Louise, or perhaps sew for you on regular 
things, to wear mornings, maybe, till you find out 
whether she knows how? And will you get your 
mother, Mimi, to try her? And Doris, will you ask 
your aunt? And you, Maizie, all you Coggs 
twins ? ” 

“Will we!” cried the Coggs girls, jumping up 
in a whirl of mingled love for Nancy and pity for 
the young thing, less fortunate and not much older 
than themselves. 

“ Why, we’ll have her up there to stay, at the 
palace, and she needn’t sew a stitch ! ” cried Maizie. 
“ Or not till she’s all right again, and then — why, 
we could give her some money, a couple of hundred, 
or something, and let her know she’s got something 
to begin on ! ” 

Nancy shook her head. “If you’ll just let her sew 
and earn her money, she’d like that better,” she said. 

“ Yes, generous Coggs girls,” laughed Louise, 
“ Nancy is right. Give the girl a chance and be 
good to her, but don’t let her feel she does not really 
own what she has. I knew, while Nancy was talk- 
ing, that you’d want to smother her in bank notes! 
Nancy, darling, we’ll give her more pageant sewing 
than her tired little fingers can do, unless you dear 


232 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


Porters, your father and mother when they come 
back, make those tired fingers strong and rested. 
Tell your girl with the curious name that Chagford 
is overflowing with sewing just now, and she shall 
have all that she can do. Wasn’t that a dear story 
to hear, Miss Drummond? Don’t you think it is 
all lovely? ” 

Rhoda Drummond and Louise exchanged glances 
above Nancy’s brown head, each admiring her rapt, 
dilated gray-blue eyes, the glad, stirred look on the 
delicate oval of the dear child’s face. 

“ I have never heard a little story that moved me 
more — with Rick’s accompaniment. What made 
you think of that, Richie ? ” asked Miss Drummond. 

“ It belonged,” said Rick, as if that explained — 
as it did. 

“ We’ll all let her make our costumes, Nancy,” 
said Amabel, almost timidly. Since Maizie Coggs 
had returned good for evil by nominating Amabel 
as Queen of the Water Revel Amabel had been sub- 
dued, almost humble, when she found herself with 
Nancy and the twins together. Amabel’s small world 
of conventions and prejudices, of distinct labelling 
of “ nice people ” and “ common people ” had tum- 
bled about her ears. She had the air of an exceed- 
ingly handsome, girlish edition of Humpty Dumpty, 


SEWING AND SOWING 233 

pleading to be put up safe and sound on her wall 
again. 

“ How dear you all are ! I know you will, 
Amabel ! ” cried Nancy, rising as her friends rose to 
go. Somehow the end of Nancy’s story seemed to 
bring the end of the evening. Nobody felt like 
playing games after encountering real things. 

“ I’m going to tell Dean Okley how lovely you 
all are, and that she needn’t worry one bit — just go 
to sleep and get ready to sew.” 

“ Perhaps you have been doing a little sowing, 
too, Doctor Porter’s assistant ? ” suggested Louise. 
“ There are two ways of spelling sowing, you 
know ! ” 

Nancy looked blissfully happy. “ I didn’t do a 
thing, but happen to wander up to the tent,” she said. 

Hazie Coggs spoke for herself and her sisters. 
“ While you’re telling how lovely we all are, you 
might tell her you’re the dearest thing in these three 
villages ! Only it would be a waste of time, because 
she’s found that out by now,” she said. 

Her guests all kissed Nancy good night with en- 
thusiasm. After they had gone the little girl turned 
and found Letty Hetty, just come out. 

“ They’re so good to me! ” Nancy said gratefully, 
wonder and affection in her eyes. 


CHAPTER XV 


REAPING 

§ OCTOR and Mrs. Porter came home 
the next day. They were surprised 
to find their family increased by one 
slight, pale girl of not quite twenty, 
but not displeased. 

“ Certainly you did right to keep 
her here, Assistant/’ said the doctor heartily when 
Nancy asked his approval of her action. “ What 
else could you do? She evidently had gone as far 
as she could go yesterday, and to-day there is 
no place ready to receive her. We have plenty of 
room for such a small creature. We must get 
her up to the point of filling more space, though! 
I’m quite proud of the efficient way you have 
carried on my practice during my absence, Doc- 
tor N. Porter. You’ve even gone ahead of me 
in your practice, for you have established a sani- 
tarium.” 

“ Indeed, you’ve made this house into a sanita- 
234 


REAPING 235 

rium often and often, Doctor M. Porter ! ” laughed 
Nancy, happily. 

Which was true; the big-hearted doctor had 
many times brought to his home, for a visit and his 
wife’s tender care, some one of his patients who 
could not otherwise get what was so sorely needed. 

So Dean Okley stayed on for a week, in which 
the Porters would not let her talk of more work 
than was involved in helping Letty Hetty. She set 
the table and wiped dishes, or dusted, or shelled 
peas, performed the light household tasks that are 
wholesome in themselves and which removed the 
sense of being a burden that would have retarded 
the girl’s recovery. 

It was quite true that she had merely been hun- 
gry and discouraged. She gained seven pounds of 
flesh in that hospitable week in the doctor’s house, 
feasting on the good things Letty Hetty insisted on 
her eating, enjoying the beautiful home atmosphere 
which had unexpectedly enveloped her, learning to 
love the noble doctor and his motherly wife, both 
of whom simply, and as a matter of course, lived 
the gospel most of us are content with approving. 
Dean absorbed some of the wisdom and culture that 
was theirs to such an unusual degree ; no one could 
help it in their house. It was a week that seemed 


236 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


to the gentle, lonely girl like a glimpse of heaven — 
but it was only a glimpse of what is as hard to gain 
— an ideal home. 

How much Dean loved Nancy as these happy 
seven days flew by it would be hard to say. 

“ Dear little Samaritaine,” she called Nancy, out 
of her slender knowledge of French, because Nancy 
had “ poured wine and oil into her wounds.” 

At the end of the week Dean insisted on begin- 
ning her own work, and Mrs. Porter gave her 
Nancy’s two costumes for the pageant to make. In 
the evening Water Revel Nancy was to be the 
Spirit of Chagford, a personage invented by Miss 
Belinda Allaire out of the need of sprites, fairies, 
and spirits in general, and much to her own delight. 

This Spirit of Chagford was supposed to have 
guided the settlers to the site of the town in its be- 
ginning, and ever since to have presided over its 
growth and fortunes. Hence Nancy, representing 
this good spirit, who could neither be proved nor 
disproved, was to precede all the other characters in 
the Water Revel. Clad in gauzy white, with her 
veiled head crowned by an effective wreath of elec- 
tric lights, fed from a small battery which she would 
carry concealed, she was to stand on a flat boat and 
go before the other crafts bearing characters por- 


REAPING 237 

trayed by Chagford children, beckoning them to 
follow where she led. 

This character Nancy dearly loved: it exactly 
suited her poetic imagination. For it she was to 
have made a full white gown of the thinnest mate- 
rial, draped over a silvery slip; it would be as 
dainty as Takatelka’s Indian garb was solid and — 
to Nancy — unattractive. Upon these two cos- 
tumes Dean began her career as a little sempstress 
in Chagford. 

“ I suppose I may stay here, if you will keep me, 
till these are done, Mrs. Porter,” Dean said. “ But 
I want to find some nice, comfortable, plain little 
house where they will be glad to take me in as a 
boarder. You know I’d like to feel that I was 
really started in life the way I’m going to keep on. 
I shall board, you know, and go every day to my 
work — if only people will keep on wanting me ! — 
and Fm anxious to feel that Fve really begun.” 

“ And that you are an independent small person, 
not taking favours from any one ! ” Mrs. Porter 
laughed at her. 

“ No, indeed ! ” cried Dean eagerly. “ Pm not 
silly independent, I hope ! I know how much I shall 
always owe you, but I want to be somebody, my 
own self, don’t you see?” 


238 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ Yes, child, I see perfectly, and you are right. 
But be my resident sempstress till you find exactly 
what you hope for in a boarding place. Can’t you 
see, in your turn, how fine it makes me feel to say 
I have a sempstress entirely my own ? ” Mrs. Porter 
said. 

Dean shook her head as she yielded. “ You are 
dreadful people for making one think you are hav- 
ing a favour done you, when you really are chari- 
table,” she said. 

Dean was fitting the Takatelka costume to Nan- 
cy’s slender shoulders one morning before she went 
down to see Grandma Emerson, where Mimi and 
Doris were to meet her. All three were then going 
on to the Stone House for one of the rehearsals, 
which were getting to be a daily matter. 

“ It mustn’t be tight, Dean,” Nancy warned her. 
“ Do have the sleeves sort of loose where they go 
in! I know I shall feel as though my arms were 
iron, handing out those medicines to the settlers, so 
if the sleeves were put in tight I’d never be able to 
lift my arms at all! I don’t see why in the world 
Takatelka didn’t send her grandmother with those 
herbs! I don’t think a young Indian girl, like her, 
ought to have been doctoring people from Boston 
whom she didn’t know ! ” 


REAPING 


239 


“ Never mind, Nancy,” laughed Dean. “ There’ll 
be a lot of people from Boston who know her after 
this pageant ! ” 

Nancy groaned. “ Dean, I know that!” she 
sighed. “ Papa was reading an article aloud — 
oh, you heard it ! That one on hypnotism, and 
making people do things while they were hypno- 
tized.” Dean nodded, her lips closed over several 
pins. 

“ I think I’ll get him to hypnotize me, and let me 
do Takatelka while I don’t know what’s going on. 
I’m as sure as anything that I’ll act it just about 
the way that a poker would ! ” 

Dean removed the pins and dropped them into the 
small oval plate that held their mates. 

“ You’ll do it all right when the time comes. It’ll 
all be so exciting and fine you’ll never once remem- 
ber who you really are; you’ll feel just like Taka- 
telka,” she said. 

Nancy laughed. “ That does sound a little like 
me ! ” she cried. “ How did you know ? But I’m 
afraid it won’t be so.” 

“ I’ve noticed that you can’t tell yourself from 
what you’re pretending you are when you and Rick 
are playing,” said Dean, taking off the Indian girl’s 
brown tunic and helping Nancy into her own simple 


240 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


white gown. “ Good-by, little Sweet; I hope you’ll 
have good luck this morning.” 

Nancy hurried down-stairs and got from Letty 
Hetty the basket of canned peaches which that good 
woman had set aside from her own five dozen, 
canned for the family’s use next winter, to send to 
Grandma Emerson, to whom fruit canning was be- 
coming wearisome. 

“ Tell Mrs. Emerson I hope they ain’t too 
sweet,” said Letty Hetty. “ I’m pretty sure they 
ain’t as good as usual, but maybe she’ll make 
out with ’em, when she’s alone and not so partic- 
ular.” 

Nancy laughed. “ Letty Hetty, I do believe I’ve 
never known you to put up peaches — or anything 
else ! — that you didn’t say that very same thing,” 
she cried. “ Of course they are as good as usual — 
they usually are ! ” 

Nancy caught up the basket, gave Letty Hetty a 
hasty pat on the arm and ran off. Letty Hetty 
looked after her, smiling to herself. “ She’s gettin’ 
more an’ more like her father, the way she says 
things ; I don’t see as she looks like him, more’n a 
kind of a way with her head she has, and the same 
steady way of lookin’ through you,” she soliloquized 
aloud, taking up her oven cloth and stooping to 


REAPING 241 

turn her mounting loaves for an even golden brown 
bake on all sides. 

Nancy went down the street as fast as safety 
to her rather heavy basketful of bumping cans al- 
lowed. 

Grandma Emerson met her in the doorway — 
she never missed this little ceremony — and took the 
basket, listening, smiling, to Nancy’s conscientious 
delivery of Letty Hetty’s message. She, too, had 
learned the value of Letty Hetty’s annual misgiv- 
ings as to her infallible canning and preserving. 

“ Well, we know beforehand just how Letty 
Hetty’s things always do turn out,” said the little 
old lady, leading the way into her cheery sitting- 
room. “ Mimi and Doris beat you here.” 

“ I see they did. Hallo, M. and D. — well, did 
you ever!” cried Nancy. “ I never once saw that 
before ! Here am I, the doctor’s assistant, the most 
intimate chum of my own darling M. D. I always 
say that stands for ‘ My daddy.’ And then my two 
dearest friends are M. D., too — Mimi and Doris ! 
Now isn’t that queer? ” 

“ Nancy, it is uncanny ! ” cried Grandma Emer- 
son, with the merry laugh that had stayed girlish, 
like her heart and mind, while her tiny body was 
aging. 


242 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ It is queer,” agreed both Mimi and Doris, suit- 
ably impressed. 

“ Sit down, Nancy,” Grandma Emerson said, 
pressing Nancy into a chair where the breeze would 
cool her. “ You are warm, coming this . sultry 
morning with your basket on your arm, like little 
Mabel. Now you’ve come, I’m going to make you 
three lassies some lemonade, and I rolled out some 
cookies last evening and baked them when it was 
cool. Somehow I’m getting lazy, I guess. I mind 
work on warm days more than I did.” 

“ You are not going to make that lemonade, 
Grandma Emerson!” cried Nancy, jumping up. 
“ There’s no reason why any one should make it : 
we don’t need it, but if we’re to have it, we’ll make 
it ourselves and it will refresh you, too.” 

“ Yes, Grandma Emerson,” Mimi and Doris 
chimed in, jumping up to reinforce Nancy. “ Sit 
right down in your rocker, that you like best, and 
we’ll make our own lemonade and yours, too.” 

The little girls gently, but firmly, pushed the little 
old lady into her chair ; there was no escaping three 
against one, as the old lady breathlessly remarked. 

“ To tell the truth, children,” she acknowledged, 
as one brought lemons out of the cellar way, an- 
other fetched sugar, and the third got the glass 


REAPING 


243 


pitcher and the lemon squeezer from the cup- 
board, “ to tell the truth I had another of those bad 
attacks two nights ago and it kind of pulls me 
down.” 

“ Oh, Grandma Emerson ! ” cried Mimi, and 
Doris looked solemn. 

But Nancy stopped rolling a lemon, as she had 
been vigorously doing, and held it up to punctuate 
her discourse. “ Grandma Emerson,” she said, “ it 
is perfectly dreadful that you stay here alone 
when you are not well! It worries mamma and 
papa more than you think, and Letty Hetty and 
me, and I guess everybody else you know well, and 
that’s pretty much everybody in old Chagford. 
Won’t you, won’t you please, please, have some one 
here to live with you ? Don’t you think you ought 
to? Wouldn’t you say anybody else ought to, if 
you knew some one who was as little as you are, 
and not quite, really young, though you do seem 
almost like us — ” 

“ Nancy, I’m considerable past seventy, and you 
don’t need to go on tip-toe about age, except when 
you’re talking about women under sixty, maybe,” 
laughed Grandma Emerson. 

“ Well, then,” cried Nancy, dropping her lemon 
on the table and running over to kneel beside the 


244 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


dear little old lady and put her arms about her, 
“ well, then, you are an old lady, a dear, frail, tiny, 
precious, trying, old lady, and you worry all of us 
almost to bits! Now, Grandma Emerson, is it right, 
do you think it is right right, you know ! — to stay 
here all alone when you get sick in the night and 
anything might happen? Won’t you give me a 
present this morning, a lovely un-birthday, August 
14th present, of your promise to have some one to 
live with you? Won’t you do this for your own 
Nancy, Grandma — and Mimi and Doris ? ” 

Nancy nodded and frowned at her friends, un- 
seen by Grandma Emerson, for them to supplement 
her pleading. 

“ Oh, please, please, please, Grandma Emerson ! ” 
begged Mimi and Doris. 

“ Well, I know it isn’t exactly right,” admitted 
Grandma Emerson. “ But, bless the children, who 
could I have? I don’t want anybody around all 
the time; I do mortally hate to let anybody come in 
here at all. But, maybe, if I could find a nice, quiet, 
refined person, who would be sensible enough not to 
pester my life out, not letting me do a speck of my 
own work, or anything I wanted to do in my own 
house, why, maybe — But, there ! Who is there like 
that to be had ? ” 


REAPING 245 

Nancy sprang to her feet excitedly, crimsoning 
under the stress of an inspiration. 

“ Dean Okley ! ” she cried. “ She’s the very 
one! And you would be doing her good, too! 
She’s so anxious to find a boarding place that she 
could afford ! And she — why, Grandma Emerson, 
don’t you see ? If you let her have a room here, and 
she’d get breakfast for you, I know you’d count it 
as rent, you wouldn’t take money from her, and 
don’t you see how splendid that would be for Dean ? 
And she would be out all day sewing.” 

“ Mercy on us, child, I’m not rich, but I no need 
to take boarders! I’d let the girl come for com- 
pany, if she came, just to know somebody was 
around, if I kept on getting sick,” cried Grandma 
Emerson. 

“ And it would be — why, nobody could tell what 
it would be to Dean! Won’t you let her come, 
Grandma?” pleaded Nancy. 

“ Mercy on us, child, what a terrible little ar- 
ranger you are getting to be ! ” Grandma Emerson 
exclaimed. “ I like Dean Okley, she’s a nice child, 
and I do suppose she needs just about what I’d give 
her. Truth to tell, I’d be kind of relieved to know 
some one was in the house at night, especially one 
that wasn’t in it daytimes ! ” She laughed her 


246 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

happy laugh and looked at Nancy whimsically, as 
she plainly tried to restrain her impatience for the 
decision she wanted to hear. 

“ You’re your father’s assistant sure enough ! ” 
said Grandma Emerson. “ If you don’t know how 
to practise medicine, you know how to bring things 
’round so’s people won’t need medicine; happiness 
is a wonderful healer! Well, Nancy Porter, I see 
by the way you’re clasping and unclasping your 
hands you’re pretty nearly flying into inch pieces 
to hear me say : ‘ Yes, I’ll take Dean Okley, if she’ll 
come to live with me! Very well; you did hear me 
say it, didn’t you? Just now? ” 

“ Do you mean you will let her come ? ” cried 
Nancy. And the other two cried: “Will you? 
Will you?” 

“Mercy on us! Yes, I will,” said Grandma 
Emerson. “ Oh, my heart! ” she cried as her three 
visitors hurled themselves upon her. “ I will if I 
survive you! Go make your lemonade, you three 
little plotters, especially Nancy Porter! I’m sure I 
don’t see why you’re so pleased ! ” 

“Yes, you do! Yes, you do!” cried Nancy. 
“ Mamma and papa will be delighted ; they have 
been worried about you. And only think how glad 
Dean will be to have a home. She will do every- 


REAPING 


247 


thing she can think of for you, I know she will. 
She’s so nice ! And all the money she earns will be 
hers for other things, instead of board. It’s too 
lovely to take in all at once ! Don’t I wish we could 
go right home and tell them about it, instead of go- 
ing to that rehearsal! But we must wait till that’s 
over. Indeed I’m glad ! ” 

The lemonade tasted more delicious than any 
lemonade had ever tasted, and, when the three girls, 
warm and breathless, for hurrying in August is ' 
hard work, reached Miss Allaire’s the rehearsal 
went better than it had ever gone before. They 
were a little late for it, so, till it was over, they could 
not pour out their great news to those whose affec- 
tion for Grandma Emerson and interest in Dean 
would make them rejoice at it. 

“ Do you go about fitting homeless young women 
to young womenless homes, Nancy? ” asked Rhoda 
Drummond. “ Here am I, happy with the double 
twins and they with me, by your suggestion, and 
now Mrs. Emerson and this Dean Okley! Isn’t it 
funny? A beautiful sort of funniness, though, as 
if it was the play of baby guardian angels, doing 
unlooked for things to make mortals happy ! ” 

“ You know I didn’t do anything: it has only 
come about,” said Nancy abashed. 


248 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ Oh, you little doctor’s assistant ! ” cried Taizie 
Coggs, hugging Nancy. “ You never do a thing — 
but just keep on not doing these sort of things, will 
you ! Just keep right on assisting.” 

Nancy laughed, crimson, but happy, feeling, 
somehow, as one should, that the love she received 
was due to other people’s goodness, not to her own. 

“ No one could any more have helped thinking 
of you and Miss Drummond, and of Grandma 
Emerson and Dean than of putting on shoes when 
you got up in the morning — there were bare feet, 
and there were shoes; you had to put them to- 
gether ! ” she cried. 

“ Nancy is learning the secret of the little moon- 
stone ball ahead of time ! I do believe it has slipped 
through the stone and into her heart as she has 
worn it ! ” cried Miss Belinda. 

“ Has it to do with these things? ” asked Nancy. 

“ No questions, Pandora ! ” laughed Miss Be- 
linda. “ You are to learn the secret on your birth- 
day, not before. But you come very near to guess- 
ing it, little Nancy, as one would know that your 
father and mother’s little girl would come.” 


CHAPTER XVI 


THE PAGEANT 



EPTEMBER came, its second week 
came, and in that second week — 
The Day ! 

The railroad that united old 
Chagford to the outside world, the 
other road that had a small station, 
chiefly used for freight from the mills, at Chagford 
Falls, both ran extra trains to bring the crowds that 
flocked to see the pageant. People came from Bos- 
ton — among these Mrs. Lawrence and her son and 
daughter — and from all the lesser towns and cities 
between. People not only came in trains, but they 
drove to Chagford from every point accessible in a 
single day’s drive, so that by the afternoon of the 
first day of the pageant, the one on which the Water 
Revel was to be held at night, every hotel, large and 
small boarding-house, and every private house that 
would consent to receive a guest was full of 
strangers. 


249 


250 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

The Chagford hospital was assured, that was evi- 
dent before counting up receipts, and the small shops 
of Chagford had never known such a rush of busi- 
ness. 

“ I can’t eat, mamma ; there isn’t one bit of use 
in trying,” said Nancy, pushing back her plate at 
supper, yet taking a hasty taste of the luscious peach 
which Letty Hetty had cut up to tempt her. “ I’m 
not hungry, and there’s the whole pageant holding 
my throat together, so I can’t swallow. Please let 
me go get dressed, because I have tried to eat my 
very best.” 

“ Run along, then, Sweetheart,” said Mrs. Law- 
rence, who, of course, was staying with her friend. 
“ Excitement and glory will sustain you till you get 
home again, and then I hope your father will pre- 
scribe a light supper before you go to bed.” 

“ Yes, Nancy, I will excuse you — and Rick, too. 
I see he is as eager to get into his royal robes as you 
are to put on your ghostly ones,” laughed Mrs. Por- 
ter. “ I only hope the children of this pageant won’t 
be the first to require the hospital ! ” 

“ Mildred, it’s all right,” said the doctor. 
“ Nancy and Rick won’t suffer for being stirred to 
their depths once in their childhood. I wish I were 
going to be the King of this Revel myself — or even 


THE PAGEANT 


251 


a small page at his court! Or a small page in the 
glorious history of this night — either sort of a 
page would do for me,” added the doctor, raising 
his voice as the children ran away. 

“ Mark,” cried Mrs. Lawrence, “ how nice you 
are with Nancy and that boy! How fine it is to 
keep your sympathy with childhood as you do! 
Why didn’t they name you Luke, instead of Mark? 
You are surely 4 the beloved physician.’ ” 

“ My dear Mary, if you had lost your sympathy 
with childhood you wouldn’t know that I had kept 
mine!” laughed the doctor. “ We shall have to 
excuse Mildred! Can’t you see she is fidgeting 
to run after Nancy and Rick, to help them 
dress? ” 

“ So am I, Uncle Mark ! ” cried Althea Lawrence. 
“ Mayn’t I go, too ? I’m wild to get up-stairs to 
help Nancy.” 

“ Oh, go, all of you three grown up little girls! ” 
the doctor growled, twinkling at Miles Lawrence as 
he spoke. “ Miles, you and I will go out on the 
piazza to smoke a sane cigar and pipe apiece, ma- 
king in our hearts the thanksgiving prayer of the 
Jew that we were not created one of that foolish 
sex!” 

Miles laughed. “ Speak for yourself, Uncle 


252 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

Mark,” he said. “ For my part I’d like to go up 
and help Rick into his royal raiment.” 

The doctor groaned, rising at once. “ Then 
we’ll all go up and see how the children get on,” he 
said. And it was easy to perceive that this was 
what he had been aching to do all along. 

Nancy was hurrying as though there were not 
still over an hour of light too strong to allow the 
water pageant to begin; Mrs. Porter had tea early 
that night, for Letty Hetty must, of course, go to 
the Revel. 

Nancy’s hair had been braided in small tight 
braids and dampened, so that now its natural weight 
of silky smoothness had been taken out, and it hung 
lightly around her shoulders, over the silvery under- 
dress of her costume, like a veil of night. 

Dean was examining the floating white upper 
gown, and then threw it over Nancy’s head. It fell 
soft and full around her, the silver below it gleam- 
ing with her every movement. 

“ That is my veil,” explained Nancy, pointing to 
the mass of gauze that Althea was examining. 
“ I’m going to carry that in a box, and the wreath 
of electric lights. I’m all ready except that. I want 
to see Rick now.” 

“ You look all ready, Nancy,” said Miles Law- 


THE PAGEANT 253 

rence. “ You look like the White Lady of Ave- 
nel ! ” 

“ Oh, Miles, that was nice to say! ” cried Nancy, 
delighted. She loved the Monastery and the mock- 
ing rhymes of the White Lady most of all of Sir 
Walter’s romances, which her father and she en- 
joyed so much together. 

They all repaired to Rick’s room across the hall 
and found the handsome lad a picture, clad in 
white and gold, with touches of scarlet here and 
there, and an ermine mantle, that no one could have 
guessed was Canton flannel, seen from a distance; 
his crown was ready to his hand. Rick had dressed 
rapidly, alone, and was as ready as Nancy was when 
the admiring elders came to inquire as to his prog- 
ress. 

“ Seems an awful shame to look so beautiful for 
only one night ! ” said Miles. “ I believe we’ll have 
to get up something in Boston next fall, before you 
kidlets outgrow these splendours, and have you 
down to wear them ! ” 

“ We really could, Miles ! ” cried Althea, seizing 
the idea. 

“ Well, if you’re ready, royal sir and ghostly 
Spirit of Chagford, we’ll drive up to the lake. I 
promised Miss Belinda to get there early, with Miles 


254 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

and Althea, in case she needed help,” said the doc- 
tor. 

Mrs. Porter and Dean wrapped Nancy in a long 
cloak, and helped Rick into a long, loose raincoat 
of Mrs. Porter’s, which covered his glories from 
curious eyes. 

“ We’ll meet at the Revel, Mildred. The Coggs 
girls are sending their car for you, our guests, Letty 
Hetty and Dean : they won’t forget, so I’ll feel no 
more care of your safe arriving,” said the doctor, 
pausing in the doorway before he followed the chil- 
dren to the surrey, waiting at the gate. 

“ We will be ready when Elijah comes,” said 
Mrs. Lawrence. “ Good luck to you, children ! ” 

“ Have a good time, Nancy, and do well. Be an 
honoured king, Richie. Good-bye. I shall watch 
for you all the evening, we all shall,” cried Mrs. 
Porter. And, with farewell waves of hands and 
handkerchiefs, Mrs. Porter, Mrs. Lawrence, Althea 
and Miles watched the actors depart. 

It was in the gathering dusk that they followed, 
later, in the Coggs car. The banks of the lake 
were hung with lighted lanterns, reflected in the 
water. All the winding length of the little sheet 
spectators were crowded, but the doctor, who had 
been watching for them, led them to seats that Miss 


THE PAGEANT 


255 


Dorinda Allaire had erected on her property where 
it bordered the lake, and where she was waiting for 
them with other friends. The lights everywhere 
else made one spot on the bank where there were 
no lights, exceedingly dark, and here the Chagford 
children who were to take part in the Revel were 
crowded. 

At the signal of a blank shot from a revolver 
there was rapid motion amid these actors, coming 
to take their places in their boats. At another shot 
the boats were illuminated; at another they came 
out from their moorings on the bank and fell into 
line. At a fourth they moved — the procession of 
the Water Revel had begun ! 

First came Nancy, the Spirit of Chagford. She 
stood on the flat top of her boat, the seats being 
covered with a board ; a single scull propelled each 
of the floats, handled by a boy, dressed in the uni- 
form of the night — wine coloured short trousers, 
pale blue shirts, crossed from left to right with a 
yellow scarf; a cap with a single quill in its side 
crowned each head. 

Nancy's white garments floated backward in the 
light breeze made by the slow motion of the boat. 
Her misty veil floated out over her veil of flying 
dark hair, the wreath of lights that crowned her 


256 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

gleamed like stars in the summer darkness. Slowly 
and gracefully she beckoned to the other boats to 
follow where she led, and soft music from the bank 
melted into the silence before it was drowned by the 
applause that greeted this poetical and beautiful 
figure. 

Next came Rick and Amabel, the King and 
Queen of the Revel, half reclining on a slanting, 
couch-like throne, which revealed them in all their 
beauty. There was a murmur, and then loud ap- 
plause, for Amabel was a picture in her royal robes 
of white and gold and crimson, and Rick was beau- 
tiful, with the perfect and spiritual beauty that was 
the fitting casket for his artistic and beautiful na- 
ture. 

“ They don’t look real ! ” murmured a little old 
woman from North Chagford, nor did they. Hand- 
some Amabel and beautiful Rick made a picture 
never to be forgotten. After them came courtiers 
and fairies on several boats. Then woodsmen and 
Puritan maidens; then Revolutionary soldiers, and 
powdered dames, after the Martha Washington 
type ; then lawmakers and ladies in the tight- 
waisted coats and vast crinolines of the period “ be- 
fore the war.” Then the zouaves and regular sol- 
diers of the Army of the Republic, and girls, in 


THE PAGEANT 


257 


curls and hoopskirts, sewing and knitting and 
scraping lint, with a dear little round-faced child 
all alone on a float, her face blackened with burnt 
cork, dressed in gay colours, with a bandanna 
around her curly head, representing the Cause of the 
War and, perhaps “ the Underground Railway/' in 
which Chagford had had her share. 

Between the floats there was occasionally one that 
represented an art, or flowers, or a group of fair- 
ies, “ nothing peculiar to Chagford, but pretty on 
general principles,” Miss Allaire explained to Mrs. 
Lawrence, who sat next her. 

At the end of the long water procession came the 
Coggs twins, one pair on a float, representing the 
immigration that had gathered around the mills at 
Chagford Falls. Maizie, Daisy, Taizie and Hazie 
had absolutely refused “ to be anything pretty,” as 
they put it. “ We’d look like chumps,” said candid 
Taizie. “ So we’re going to be something funny.” 
Maizie represented a German girl, Daisy a Swede, 
Taizie an Irish girl, Hazie a French Canadian. At 
the imminent risk of a wetting, they danced what 
nobody could deny might be jigs of each nation, 
played and frolicked, and were comical in every look 
and gesture, enjoying themselves to the top of their 
bent and making everybody who watched them 


258 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


share their fun. They were the hit of the evening. 
Nancy was lovely and unearthly, Rick and Amabel 
gloriously handsome, Louise charming as a Revolu- 
tionary dame in powder and kerchief. Mimi was 
a dear plump mother bidding her soldier son fare- 
well, Doris was dignified and stately, as a matron in 
a turban pouring tea for a gentleman in stock and 
strapped trousers, and a coat that made him look 
like a wasp, but the merry Coggs were decidedly 
the hit of the Revel, with their frowzy, jolly look- 
ing hair, their lively jigs, for people like to laugh, 
and these four “ emigrant girls ” were convulsing. 

The band that had come from Boston, the Chag- 
ford bands united at the head of the lake, all played 
their best as the floats and the young actors on them 
circled around and around its curves. The lake was 
a mile and a half long in a straight line through its 
centre, but it lengthened itself out into four times 
that by cunningly curving and twisting itself into 
a sheet worthy the muscles of the picturesque young- 
sters sculling the fleet. 

After an hour’s rowing the floats grouped them- 
selves into tableaux and coloured lights played over 
them from the shore ; it was most beautiful in effect. 

Finally, as the clock struck eleven in the distant 
white meeting-house on Chagford common, itself a 


THE PAGEANT 


259 


witness of the town’s growth since it had been part 
of the colony of his ungracious majesty, George III, 
the floats fell slightly apart from one another, and, 
led by the Boston band, the children’s voices rose 
over the water in “ The Star Spangled Banner,” 
and the Water Revel was beautifully, impressively 
ended. 

Nancy came flitting into the house, dancing along 
in her diaphanous draperies. 

“ My battery held out ; I was sure it would fail 
and my crown disappear, but it held out! Didn’t 
everything go off perfectly, mamma? Weren’t you 
pleased with all of us, papa? Oh, wasn’t it lovely? 
And didn’t we make a lot of money? I heard the 
men that kept the barriers across the three roads to 
the lake say that they had taken in more than five 
hundred dollars gate money ! ” she cried, still dan- 
cing, till Althea Lawrence caught her and forced 
her to stand still. 

“ More than five hundred ! More than a thou- 
sand ! ” said the doctor. “ There were over two 
thousand people, perhaps three thousand there, at 
fifty cents apiece admission. And to-morrow the 
tickets are to be from fifty cents to two dollars for 
reserved seats. Go to bed and go to sleep, Nancy, 
or you won’t be able honestly to do your part in 


260 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

giving the audience their money’s worth to-mor- 
row,” said her father, and Nancy, kissing them all 
good night, obediently flitted away, followed up- 
stairs by Rick, not less excited than she was. 

Neither Nancy nor Rick could go to sleep for a 
long, long time, but lay tossing restlessly, seeing the 
mysterious witchery of the gleaming lights under 
the trees along the lake banks, hearing the music, 
feeling the sway of the little boats, and the charm 
of the pretty figures which they bore along. But, 
at last, the boy and girl did go to sleep, and Mrs. 
Porter stole in to darken the windows of both rooms 
so that they slept in the morning until they were 
called, and got up, refreshed, to take their share in 
the events of the day. 

The pageant began at two. By one o’clock the 
gate keepers of the roads leading to the natural am- 
phitheatre where it was to be held had all that they 
could do taking in the receipts from the crowds, 
driving and walking, who were thronging to see the 
tableaux. Ropes had been stretched across these 
streets and roads, and no one might pass, except by 
buying a ticket to the pageant, by order of the Chag- 
ford authorities. 

The performers had badges to admit them and, 
what with part actors, choruses, groups and so on, 


































































THE PAGEANT 


261 


two thirds of the people in Chagford were perform- 
ers. Doctor Porter was taking part : he and Nancy 
and Rick came early to the place, costumed at home 
and enveloped in concealing coats. So many people 
were driving along Chagford’s quiet streets in this 
guise that the effect was mysterious. 

The pageant opened with a prologue spoken by 
one of the clergymen of Chagford, setting forth the 
purport of the representation. Then followed a 
stirring chorus, and the first scene was set, repre- 
senting a group of pilgrims, gathered together in 
their English home, bidding farewell to relatives 
and friends, before setting forth to the wilderness 
in the West. 

Then followed the coming of the settlers from 
Massachusetts Bay to Chagford, and their planting 
their standard in the soil, and the singing of “ God 
Save the King,” — the foundation of the town. 

The next tableau showed the settlers desperately 
ill, far from human help, the forest, and the dreaded 
Red Men alone surrounding them. Then, from out 
the trees there crept a little figure in moccasins and 
wood-coloured tunic, feathers in her long, dark 
braids, beads and feathers on her skirt and breast, 
gay fringe on her long brown leggings. It was 
Nancy, as Takatelka, according to the legend of 


262 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

Chagford, coming to rescue the white men. No 
longer afraid, but feeling her part, as Dean had 
prophesied that she would, Nancy stole out of her 
ambush, shading her eyes with her hand, creep- 
ing on with a perfect air of timidity, yet purpose- 
ful. 

She came up to the men, lying suffering on their 
couches of leaves, and offered them herbs tied in 
bunches, and powders in gaily painted bark, drops 
in a horn container, signifying that these would 
cure them. 

The settlers accepted the kindness of the Indian 
maiden, the oldest of them kissing her little hand 
gratefully. In pantomime Takatelka promised them 
health on the morrow, gave them a pipe in token 
of friendship, and ran swiftly, softly back to the 
shading trees and was lost amid their shadows. 

There was loud applause for this pretty little liv- 
ing legend, and the chorus sang a song that set 
forth the fact that mercy is found everywhere and 
pity turns a foe into a friend. 

After this there was tableau after tableau, show- 
ing the little village following the peaceful work of 
building and tilling the soil, then gradually resent- 
ing the taxation from over seas that allowed no 
voice to the colony paying it, the rejection of the 


THE PAGEANT 


263 


taxed tea, the mustering of the militia, the return 
after the Revolution, the hearing the news of the 
death of Washington. The sending of sons away 
to colonize far distant Ohio, the long journeying 
by stage to Boston, the return with new fashions, 
and tidings of political changes, the strange story 
told by a traveller of the steamboat, Clermont, that 
had gone down the Hudson, the revolutionizing of 
all things by this same steam, which ended in the 
foundation of another Chagford, and its mills, over 
by the leaping falls. The outbreak of the Civil War 
and the marching away of Chagford’s sons, the 
heart-breaking waiting and watching at home of her 
daughters, their brave help in hospital and sewing- 
room, the sorrow and joy at the end, when victory 
was won and so many returned — and so many 
never came back! Finally the series of tableaux 
that set forth the events of the last half century, and 
Chagford’s share in them. The pageant ended with 
a tableau representing the three Chagfords, stand- 
ing in a triangle, with clasped hands. Around them 
marched in their order all the characters which had 
been showing how the Chagfords had come to be 
what they were, singing “ The Song of the Chag- 
fords, Three in One, ,, which Mrs. Porter had writ- 
ten, and for which Miss Belinda had composed ex- 


264 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


cellent music. From among the crowd of person- 
ages of the two hundred and fifty odd years which 
comprised Chagford’s history, Rick stepped forth 
alone, his radiant eyes fixed beyond the sea of faces 
before him. He was in the costume of the drum- 
mer boy of the Civil War whom he had represented, 
and he carried his violin. Raising it to his shoulder 
he played, simply, but with marvellous quality of 
tone and feeling, “ Home, Sweet Home,” played it 
as only Rick, or another true violinist could play it, 
amid the breathless stillness of the vast audience. 
Then* the bands took up the air, the leader of the 
choruses raised his baton, turning to the audience 
to invite it to join them. With a sound like the sea 
the great concourse of people got upon its feet and 
sang “ Home, Sweet Home.” The sun was setting 
when the last note died away. With the music and 
the day Chagford’s pageant ended. 

Doctor Porter, still in his costume of Colonial 
days — he had represented one of the councillors of 
the village when Massachusetts Bay Colony was dis- 
cussing declaring independence — drove his wife 
and little girl home in the buggy with Tonic, leaving 
their guests to follow, and bring Rick, in another 
carriage. 

Nancy, dressed as Takatelka, leaned her head, 


THE PAGEANT 265 

happily weary, against the buff waistcoat of the 
Colonial gentleman holding the reins. 

“ It has been perfectly beautiful and I know the 
things I knew before quite differently, for seeing 
them sort of unrolled, one after the other,” she said. 
“ Do you suppose that is the way the angels see the 
world, daddy ? All its years at once, running back- 
ward and yet unfolding? They must understand 
us, if they do.” 

The doctor smiled at his wife over the bent head 
of the poetical little Indian. 

“ I think so, Takatelka,” he said. “ But one thing 
I have always tried to show you : We shall never 
fully understand anything or anybody till we see 
like the angels, all around, and backward and for- 
ward, the causes that went to make them what they 
are.” 

“ Both good and bad? ” said Nancy dreamily. 

“ Both good and bad, my bonny. It teaches us 
justice, and justice is the highest form of mercy,” 
said the doctor, drawing tired, blissful Nancy close, 
with a hug and a pat such as it is safe to say the real 
Takatelka never got from her father, the Indian 
chief. 


CHAPTER XVII 


THE SECRET OF THE MOONSTONE BALL 



MONTH after the pageant Nancy 
was thirteen years old. 

“ Good morning, my Assistant ! ” 
called the doctor at the foot of the 
stairs. “ Rise up and salute the new 
day and your new year ! ” 

“ I did rise up, long ago,” cried Nancy, appear- 
ing, fully dressed, leaning toward her father over 
the balustrade. “ And I saluted my new year and 
everybody’s new day. Now I’m coming down to 
salute you.” 

She ran lightly down-stairs and jumped from the 
third one from the bottom into her father’s out- 
stretched arms. He held her close for a moment, 
then kissed her gravely on her low, broad fore- 
head. 

“ All good be yours, dear child, for this year and 
every year, all joy, yet strength and wisdom to meet 
sorrow when it must come,” he said. “ This is 


SECRET OF MOONSTONE BALL 267 


really my festal day more than yours, mine and 
your mother’s. We are thankful for the tardy gift 
we received thirteen years ago to-day, of this dear 
little daughter.” 

“ I don’t know about that, daddydee ! I’m pretty 
thankful I was sent here, and not to any other M. D. 
— because then the letters wouldn’t stand for My 
Daddy and My Dearest, both ! ” cried Nancy. 
“ Isn’t it lucky we pleased one another, we three 
Porters, when we met thirteen years ago! Where 
is motherkins? I must go and hug her, too.” 

“ ‘ The queen was in the counting-house,’ but now 
she is where the maid is — in the kitchen,” said the 
doctor. “ I understand that we are to celebrate all 
day to-day, beginning with something special for 
breakfast, which your mother is concocting. Nancy, 
only think! You are now a teen-y girl, instead of 
my tiny girl, as you have been ! ” 

“ Never mind, if I’m not a toney girl ; I do hate 
that word ! ” cried Nancy, hopping and skipping 
away from her father in pursuit of her mother and 
Letty Hetty, to be congratulated and blessed by 
them both. 

“ Nancy,” said Mrs. Porter, “ it is your birthday, 
but would you mind doing an errand for me, though 
you are supposed not to have any duties to-day ? ” 


268 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ Perhaps I shall mind, but perhaps I’ll hide it 
and do the errand anyway,” said Nancy. 

“ It’s only to leave this pattern for Dean at 
Grandma Emerson’s,” said artful Mrs. Porter, 
hoping that Nancy would not guess that she was 
trying to get her out of the way for awhile. “ Your 
father is going that way; he will take you.” 

“ I’ll take you farther, if you’ve nothing better to 
do, Assistant,” said the doctor, entering the room 
and into the plot at the same time. “ I have a nice 
jogging trip to make to North Chagford, which you 
may take with me., if you will: the day is perfect 
for a tonic drive — either with or without the cap- 
ital T.” 

“ I haven’t anything to do this morning : this 
afternoon the girls are coming,” said Nancy. “ I’d 
love to go, pater meus.” 

“ We are now thirteen and through our four 
declensions! What it is to have a classical train- 
ing ! ” observed the doctor to no one in particular. 

“ That’s what my mother gives me in our home 
lessons that you both think must be given up for 
me to go to school! ” laughed Nancy, catching up 
her coat and hat from the back of the hall chair and 
rapidly getting them on to go with father, 

“ You were such a sensible child to choose Octo- 


SECRET OF MOONSTONE BALL 269 


ber for your birth month, Nancy! ” said the doctor, 
as they swung down the street in a leisurely man- 
ner, and Tonic’s hoofs made restful music among 
the golden, red and russet leaves along the side of 
the road whenever he turned out for another horse. 
“ It is such a peaceful, halcyon time of year, and it 
seems to me I do not remember a storm on your 
birthday! It is always a golden, brooding day like 
this ! Now, I was born in February, you know, and 
bad weather is more likely than not to be my share.” 

“ Well, the three best Americans I know of were 
born in the little month, — George Washington, 
Abraham Lincoln and another,” said Nancy slyly. 

“ Oh, Nancy, charity is all very well, but I’d 
hardly call tipsy old Jim Ludlow one of the three 
best Americans, though the records of his constant 
arrests show that he is a February product,” re- 
monstrated the doctor, suddenly grown stupid. 

“ Doctor Porter, let me advise you to consult 
Doctor Ganson at once,” said Nancy, with an excel- 
lent imitation of the manner of her father’s profes- 
sional colleague. “ Your trouble is mental, sir, the 
brain, I am sure of it, and you should have help, sir, 
at once, immediately ! ” 

Whereupon they both laughed, as happy people 
will laugh at small things, and drove on contentedly. 


270 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


At Grandma Emerson’s Nancy left the buggy 
for a moment to make a flying visit, upon her 
mother’s errand. She found the little old lady look- 
ing well and cheerful; she had improved wonder- 
fully since Dean Okley had come to live with her. 
Dean was quiet, cheerful and most helpful at the 
two ends of the day when she was at home, and her 
presence at night removed the old lady’s fear, which 
she would never acknowledge, of being alone when 
serious illness came upon her. Nancy was surprised 
to see Dean at home this morning. She was so 
busy that there was rarely a day which she had to 
herself. Dean was an excellent little sempstress, 
and such a pretty, gentle, attractive girl that there 
was more demand on her time than there was time 
for the demand. 

“ Mamma sent this pattern for Dean,” said 
Nancy. “ I don’t suppose she thought you’d be at 
home, Dean, but she asked me to leave it here.” 

“ Thank you,” said Dean with a tiny smile at 
Grandma Emerson. “Yes, there was something I 
wanted to do to-day. Aren’t you going to stay one 
minute? ” 

“Not one minute; papa’s waiting,” said Nancy. 
“ This is my birthday. Aren’t you coming to our 
house? You always come on my birthday, 


SECRET OF MOONSTONE BALL 271 


Grandma! You and Dean come to tea; I know 
mamma’ll be delighted if you will.” 

“Oh, is this your birthday, Nancy?” asked 
Grandma Emerson, so indifferently that Nancy 
wondered and was half hurt. “ I do believe it is ! 
Well, I’m sure I hope you’ll have a pleasant day to- 
day, and many happy returns. I may come up some 
time to-day, Dean and I, if there’s time.” 

Dean’s heart failed her when she saw how puz- 
zled and disappointed Nancy looked. 

“ Oh, there’s sure to be time ! ” she said. “ Thank 
you, Nancy. I’m sure Mrs. Emerson and I will 
g°” 

“ Please! ” said Nancy, and ran back to her wait- 
ing father and Tonic. 

They jogged along pleasantly, through the in- 
creasing warmth of the perfect day, out to the coun- 
try peace of North Chagford. Over the hills the at- 
mosphere looked mauve coloured, all around at short 
range it was a bath of splendour and, looking 
straight ahead, through the near-at-hand gorgeous- 
ness to the blended and softened radiance of the 
autumn-hued trees, there were dancing waves of 
radiating heat in the sun, shimmering before Tonic’s 
nose against a background of side shadows. 

“ Nancy, it is a day for ‘ As You Like It,’ ” cried 


272 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


the doctor. “ Let us begin with the scene in the 
Forest of Arden and the exiled Duke’s lines.” 

It was common for this father and daughter to 
entertain each other in their drives with recitations 
from the poets whom the doctor loved and had 
taught Nancy to love, the great Elizabethans, whom 
so many go through life unknowing. Doctor Por- 
ter had early begun this remarkable training of his 
little girl, and now Nancy’s mind was stored with 
these riches of his giving, far exceeding the value 
of any other gift he could have made her. 

Now, at her father’s suggestion, Nancy and he 
alternately repeated the beautiful lines of the ex- 
quisite second act of “ As You Like It,” merely for 
the delight of hearing the music of Shakespeare’s 
poetry, the wisdom of his thought, in the midst of 
a day so akin to the spirit of the scene. 

“ Oh, Ladybird, what it is to have had the treas- 
ures of the past laid up for us ! ” sighed Doctor 
Porter, contentedly, as he reached his destina- 
tion and sought for his small black bag, leaving 
Nancy to hold Tonic while he went in to make his 
call. 

The call was not a long one and Tonic trotted 
home at a better pace than he had come, so the doc- 
tor and “ his assistant ” reached home in good time 


SECRET OF MOONSTONE BALL 273 


for dinner, which was served in this simple house- 
hold in the middle of the day. 

Letty Hetty met Nancy at the side door on her 
arrival. “ Your mother has company in the li- 
brary,” she said in a loud whisper. “ She wanted 
I should tell you they’d be here for dinner, and you 
should slip up-stairs and put on your blue with the 
narrow velvet ribbon, and that little fine tucked 
guimpe, with the narrow real lace edgin’. You 
come down the back stairs when you’re ready and 
I’ll button it up the back for you.” 

u I can button that guimpe, it’s so soft, thank you, 
Letty Hetty,” said Nancy. “ Who is the company? 
It must be some one mamma is a little particular 
about my looking nice when they see me.” 

“ Yes, it must be. I can’t really tell you who ’tis, 
Nancy, but it isn’t a man,” said Letty Hetty, and 
Nancy ran away unsuspiciously, without asking any 
more questions. 

She was quick about dressing, and soon returned, 
her hair prettily rolled and tied above her ears, the 
dainty white guimpe with the fine lace fastened 
around her throat, the gray-blue gown, with its 
darker rows of gray-blue velvet ribbon, falling in 
soft folds straight from the short empire waist that 
met the guimpe in a narrow yoke. 


274 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 

“ I think I’m all right, but I wanted you to see, 
Letty Hetty,” said Nancy, stopping in the hall 
where Letty Hetty intercepted her. It occurred 
to Nancy, with her first dim suspicion, that 
Letty Hetty did not want her to go into the 
kitchen. 

“ You’re all right and more,” said Letty Hetty, 
turning the little girl around on all sides. “ Pull 
out that chain, it’s turning your ruffle down. There, 
that’s the only thing I see to do to you! ” 

“ This is the day when I may open this moon- 
stone ball and read its secret,” said Nancy, straight- 
ening her chain and her ruffle. “ I was going to 
do it this morning, but I didn’t. I thought maybe 
the Misses Allaire would be down to-day, and 
I’d rather open it when they could see me do 
it.” 

“ I shouldn’t wonder if they did come, or Miss 
Belinda anyway, as it’s your birthday,” said Letty 
Hetty. “ Run along, child ; you’ll find your mother 
and the company in the library.” 

Nancy walked hesitatingly to the door. She 
heard no voices, and opened it. There sat her 
mother in her prettiest, new gray gown. And there 
with her were the Misses Allaire, Grandma Emer- 
son and Dean, Louise and Amabel, Mimi and Doris, 


SECRET OF MOONSTONE BALL 275 


Cord, the four Coggs girls and Miss Drummond, 
all gowned as for an occasion, all smiling broadly 
as Nancy stood transfixed in the doorway! 

“ Many happy returns of the day ! ” shouted the 
entire gathering in a chorus as solid in sound as 
those of the pageant. 

“ Dinner is ready, Miss Nancy Porter,” an- 
nounced Letty Hetty, looking in at the other door 
before Nancy could recover herself. 

Mrs. Porter arose and the doctor, unexpectedly 
appearing in ceremonious attire, offered his arm to 
Grandma Emerson. Mrs. Porter laughingly gave 
her arm to Miss Allaire, “ for lack of men in the 
family,” she said, and then bade Nancy take out 
Miss Belinda. The others fell in line as they 
pleased, all but Louise and Rick, who began to play 
a march on piano and violin with an understanding 
as to time and expression that revealed previous 
practice. 

They marched out to the dining-room and there 
stood a table, elongated to reach nearly from one 
end of the room to the other, great globes of chrys- 
anthemums in the middle and at each place, chains 
of gorgeous autumn leaves edging the table and 
running from the centrepiece to each plate. Two 
maids from the Stone House stood ready to serve, 


276 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


and a glimpse through the open door revealed 
women helping Letty Hetty in the kitchen. 

“ You are to sit here, Nancy,” said the doctor, 
feeling a little sorry that the plan had been so well 
carried out, for he saw Nancy’s surprise was almost 
too much for her. 

He led Nancy to a seat at the centre of the table; 
she found when she reached it that it was slightly 
raised, and around it were piled white packages, 
tied with various coloured ribbons. They had a 
bewildering effect on the already benumbed little 
Lady of the Feast. 

“ What does it all mean ? ” she murmured. 

“ It means that you are thirteen years old to-day, 
dearie, and this is your dinner-party,” explained 
Mrs. Porter. 

“Well, I’m truly surprised!” said Nancy. But 
she took her place and began to recover. By the 
time the little neck clams had given place to soup 
Nancy’s spirits rose to the occasion and became 
quite hilarious. 

“ My hostess, I received the last bills for the 
pageant to-day, so I can tell you just what our 
profits are,” said Miss Belinda, peering around the 
thicket of chrysanthemums which made it hard for 
her to see Nancy from where she sat. 


SECRET OF MOONSTONE BALL 277 


“ Oh, how nice ! How much did you make, Miss 
Belinda? ” asked Nancy. 

“ We, we, Lady Takatelka, all of us here! ” Miss 
Belinda corrected her. “ Well, from the Water 
Revel and the pageant proper, clear of expenses, we 
have in hand two thousand dollars.” 

“ It sounds a lot ; will that give us the hospital ? ” 
asked Nancy. 

“We shall begin to build with that, added to the 
contributions, which amount to five times that,” Doc- 
tor Porter answered, as Miss Belinda’s glance re- 
ferred the question to him. “We have the land, 
given outright. Can you guess by whom? ” 

Nancy looked around the table, seeking an in- 
spiration — and got it. 

“ The twins ! ” she cried. 

“ The Coggs girls got their guardian’s permis- 
sion, and transferred to the town fifty acres of their 
land, on the side that is at the upper end of the lake, 
where the view will be beautiful, the site dry and 
sunny — in all respects an ideal spot,” said Doctor 
Porter, with a warm look at the embarrassed 
twins. 

“ It wasn’t anything to do, Nancy,” said Maizie. 
“ We like to do it, §o there’s nothing good about 
it,” 


278 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


“ I thought it was good to like to be kind,” said 
Nancy. 

“ Nancy has the best of that, Maizie Coggs ! ” 
cried Grandma Emerson. 

“If it had been giving candy, or something we 
liked ourselves, we probably wouldn’t have done it,” 
said Taizie with her jolly laugh, and not quite truth- 
fully. 

Nancy looked at the twins. They were dressed 
quietly and tastefully; they were at ease, their 
manners were natural and good, neither stiff 
nor lax; they spoke, in the main, correctly. How 
much Miss Drummond had done for them ! 
How fortunate it was that they had her, as it 
was fortunate that she, now well and happy, had 
them! There was a strong attachment growing 
up between the twins and their charming com- 
panion. 

Nancy thought: “I really did bring them to- 
gether! That was one good thing that happened 
while I was twelve years old ! ” What she said, 
with a loving look at the kindly Coggs quartette, 
was : “ You’d have done it a great deal quicker, 
Taizie — you and Maizie, Daisy and Hazie — if 
it hadn’t been easy for you.” 

Amabel Willis leaned forward, looking handsomer 


SECRET OF MOONSTONE BALL 279 


than ever, with a becoming blush and embarrass- 
ment on her face. 

“ There is no one does lovelier things, hard and 
easy ones and all sorts, than the dear Ladies of the 
Lake,” she said. 

And every one applauded, Nancy frantically, 
partly because they agreed with Amabel, but largely 
because they all understood that Amabel had thus 
spoken with difficulty, trying to atone for her earlier 
treatment of these girls, who had won everybody’s 
liking and respect by the way, young as they, were, 
that they had performed the difficult feat of acquir- 
ing riches gracefully and using them well. 

“ This is Nancy’s birthday feast,” said Miss Be- 
linda later. “ Every one must in turn make her a 
little speech. Mrs. Emerson ? ” 

“ I love my love with an N because she is Nancy. 
Nancy is my love,” said the little old lady promptly. 

“ She is our little sunshine ; may she never be 
clouded,” said Miss Dorinda Allaire. 

“ She was my little key to closed doors, and has 
locked herself in our hearts,” added Miss Belinda. 

“ She’s the dearest lassie I know,” said Louise 
gently. 

“ Now, that is not the sort of speeches for Nancy 
to hear! ” interposed the doctor. " She’s nothing on 


280 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


earth but my assistant; why are you all trying to 
spoil her?” 

“ It wouldn’t spoil me, papa,” said Nancy, her 
chin quivering a little, she was so touched. “ It’s 
only because we all love one another. What do 
you suppose I’d say of them?” 

“ Bravo, Nancy ! ” cried Grandma Emerson. 
“ It’s a poor creature that takes love in any other 
spirit than that.” 

But, under cover of the applause of her own little 
speech, Nancy heard Dean saying on one hand : 
“ Think how much you’ve done for me, Nancy 
Porter! ” 

While on the other sat Rick, whispering under 
cover of the clapping : “ They may all say what they 
like, but you belong to me, sweet Nancy. You’re my 
sister and more, aren’t you ? ” 

“ Yes, Richie ; we’re the close, inside ones. 
We’re always left when everybody else but papa and 
mamma are gone,” answered Nancy. She was 
fonder of Mimi and Doris than of any of her other 
friends, but Rick — well, Rick was Rick, closest in 
sympathy, nearest of kin by nature. 

“ Aren’t you going to open your birthday gifts, 
Nancy?” asked her mother. 

“ There are such a lot,” said Nancy, surveying 


SECRET OF MOONSTONE BALL 281 


them doubtfully. “ There isn’t room to lay them 
afterward. Mayn’t I take them into the library, and 
open them there, after dinner? What I’d like to do, 
if Miss Belinda will let me, is to open the moonstone 
ball now, and find out what its secret is.” 

“ Haven’t you opened it yet, Nancy? I felt sure 
you would peep into it the first thing this morning ! ” 
cried Miss Belinda. “ By all means open it, and tell 
us what is hidden in its little white heart ! ” 

“ You said it was a secret worth more than a chart 
for finding buried treasure,” said Nancy, unfasten- 
ing her chain with eager fingers and taking the 
moonstone ball in her hand. She caught its tiny 
knobs between her thumb nails and pulled the ball 
open. Curled up inside it was a tiny thread of 
paper which Nancy smoothed out flat on the palm 
of her hand. 

“ There is something written on it, but, dear me ! 
it must have been written by one of those people 
who write the Declaration of Independence, or some- 
thing like that, in a circle as small as a cent! I 
never in this wide world could read this! Richie, 
will you please get that magnifying glass out of the 
library?” said Nancy, vainly striving to decipher 
one of the minute strokes which she saw before her. 

Rick ran off and was back again in a moment, 


282 NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S PARTNER 


offering to Nancy the round glass with the ebony 
handle which he had fetched from the library. 

“ Thank you,” said Nancy, taking it and tilting it 
over the little wisp of paper outspread in her palm. 

“ It’s a verse,” said Nancy, reading slowly. 
Then she looked up. 

“ It seems to be something — I don’t know ; I 
can’t explain. Rather like the Eastern poetry you 
like, papa,” she said. “ I see, I see, Miss Belinda ! 
Yes, I do see what you meant! ” 

“ Read it, dear,” said Mrs. Porter. 

Nancy read, holding the magnifying glass slant- 
ingly over her hand : 

“ Each soul on earth is lonely, here, and dumb ; 

Warm it with love, give life to what is numb, 

And in its glow your own soul’s life will come, 

For love is life, and of our life the sum.” 

“ That is the chart to find peace and happiness, 
if you understand love to mean what it should mean 
— not selfish fancy, but doing unto others as you 
would have them do to you,” said Grandma Emer- 
son. 

“ Like the doctor and Mrs. Porter,” said Cord 
unexpectedly. 

“ Isn’t it better than a chart for finding buried 
treasures, Nancy?” asked Miss Belinda. 


SECRET OF MOONSTONE BALL 283 


Nancy looked serious, yet she smiled happily, her 
eyes large and luminous with the thoughts and 
emotions of this wonderful dinner-party and the 
affection poured out upon her to mark her thirteenth 
birthday. 

“ It is true,” she said solemnly. 

“ What do you know about making people happy 
by loving them and getting love in return, Dame 
Trot? You are only the old Chagford doctor’s 
assistant ! ” said the doctor. 

Nancy turned upon him her gray eyes, warm and 
adoring, and smiled at him. 

“ That’s all I am ; every single thing,” she said. 


THE END. 






BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


THE LITTLE COLONEL BOOKS 

(Trade Mark) 

By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON 
Each 1 vol., large 12 mo, cloth, illustrated, per vol. . $1 .50 

THE LITTLE COLONEL STORIES 

(Trade Mark) 

Being three “ Little Colonel ” stories in the Cosy Comer 
Series, “ The Little Colonel, " “ Two Little Knights of 
Kentucky," and “ The Great Scissors," put into a single 
volume. 

THE LITTLE COLONELS HOUSE PARTY 

(Trade Mark) 

THE LITTLE COLONEL’S HOLIDAYS 

(Trade Mark) 

THE LITTLE COLONEL’S HERO 

(Trade Mark) 

THE LITTLE COLONEL AT BOARDING- 

(Trade Mark) 

SCHOOL 

THE LITTLE COLONEL IN ARIZONA 

(Trade Mark) 

THE LITTLE COLONEL’S CHRISTMAS 

(Trade Mark) 

VACATION 

THE LITTLE COLONEL, MAID OF HONOR 

(Trade Mark) 

THE LITTLE COLONEL’S KNIGHT COMES 

(Trade Mark) 

RIDING 

MARY WARE: THE LITTLE COLONEL’S 

CHUM (Trade Mark) 

MARY WARE IN TEXAS 

These eleven volumes , with The LUVe Colonel's Good Times 
Book , boxed as a twelve-volume set , frits GO. 

A— 1 


L. C. PAGE & COMP A NY S 


THE LITTLE COLONEL 

(Trade Mark) 

TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS OF KENTUCKY 
THE GIANT SCISSORS 
BIG BROTHER 

Special Holiday Editions 

Each one volume, cloth decorative, small quarto, $1.25 
New plates, handsomely illustrated with eight full-page 
drawings in color, and many marginal sketches. 

IN THE DESERT OF WAITING: The Legend 

of Camelback Mountain. 

THE THREE WEAVERS: A Fairy Tale for 
Fathers and Mothers as Well as for Their 
Daughters. 

KEEPING TRYST 

THE LEGEND OF THE BLEEDING HEART 
THE RESCUE OF PRINCESS WINSOME: 

A Fairy Play for Old and Young. 

THE JESTER’S SWORD 

Each one volume, tall 16mo, cloth decorative $0.50 

Paper boards .35 

There has been a constant demand for publication in 
separate form of these six stories which were originally 
included in six of the “ Little Colonel ’ books. 

JOEL: A BOY OF GALILEE: By Annie Fellows 

Johnston. Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman. 

New illustrated edition, uniform with the Little Colonel 
Books, 1 vol., large 12mo, cloth decorative $1.50 

A story of the time of Christ, which is one of the author’s 
best-known books. 

A — 2 


BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


THE LITTLE COLONEL GOOD TIMES 

BOOK 

Uniform in size with the Little Colonel Series $1.50 
Bound in white kid (morocco) and gold 3.00 

Cover design and decorations by Peter Yerberg. 
Published in response to many inquiries from readers 
of the Little Colonel books as to where they could obtain 
a “ Good Times Book ” such as Betty kept. 

THE LITTLE COLONEL DOLL BOOK 

Large quarto, boards $1.50 

A series of “Little Colonel” dolls, — not only the 
Little Colonel herself, but Betty and Kitty and Mary” 
Ware, yes, and Rob, Phil, and many another of the well- 
loved characters, — even Mom' Beck herself. There are 
many of them and each has several changes of costume, so 
that the happy group can be appropriately clad for the 
rehearsal of any scene or incident in the series. 

The large, cumbersome sheets of most of the so-called 
doll “ books ” have been discarded, and instead each 
character, each costume, occupies a sheet by itself, the 
dolls and costumes being cut out only as they are wanted. 
ASA HOLMES: Oh, At the Cross-Roads. A sketch 
of Country Life and Country Humor. By Annie 
Fellows Johnston. 

With a frontispiece by Ernest Fosbery. 

Large 16mo, cloth, gilt top $1.00 

“ ‘ Asa Holmes; or, At the Cross-Roads ’ is the most 
delightful, most sympathetic and wholesome book that 
has been published in a long while.” — Boston Times. 
THE RIVAL CAMPERS; Or, The Adventures or 
Henry Burns. By Ruel Perley Smith. 

Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . $1.50 

A story of a party of typical American lads, courageous, 
alert, and athletic, who spend a summer camping on an 
island off the Maine coast. 

THE RIVAL CAMPERS AFLOAT; Or, The 

Prize Yacht Viking. By Ruel Perley Smith. 
Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . $1.50 

This book is a continuation of the adventures of “ The 
Rival Campers ” on their prize yacht Viking. 

A — * 


L. C. PAGE &> COMPANY'S 


THE RIVAL CAMPERS ASHORE 

By Ruel Perley Smith. 

Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . $1.50 

“ As interesting ashore as when afloat.” — The Interior. 

THE RIVAL CAMPERS AMONG THE 
OYSTER PIRATES ; Or, Jack Harvey’s Adven- 
tures. By Ruel Perley Smith. Illustrated . $1.50 

“ Just the type of book which is most popular with lads 
who are in their early teens.” — The Philadelphia Item. 

FAMOUS CAVALRY LEADERS. By Charles 
H. L. Johnston. 

Large 12mo. With 24 illustrations . . . $1.50 

Biographical sketches, with interesting anecdotes and 
reminiscences of the heroes of history who were leaders 
of cavalry. 

“ More of such books should be written, books that 
acquaint young readers with historical personages in a 
pleasant informal way.” — N. Y. Sun. 

FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS. By Charles H. 
L. Johnston. 

Large 12mo, illustrated $1.50 

In this book Mr. Johnston gives interesting sketches of 
the Indian braves who have figured with prominence in 
the history of our own land, including Powhatan, the 
Indian Caesar; Massasoit, the friend of the Puritans; 
Pontiac, the red Napoleon; Tecumseh, the famous war 
chief of the Shawnees; Sitting Bull, the famous war chief 
of the Sioux; Geronimo, the renowned Apache Chief, etc. 

FAMOUS PRIVATEERSMEN AND ADVEN- 
TURERS OF THE SEA. By Charles H. L. 
Johnston. 

Large 12mo, illustrated $1.50 

In this volume Mr. Johnston tells interesting stories 
about the famous sailors of fortune. There are tales of 
Captain Otway Burns, patriot, privateer and legislator; 
Woodes Rogers, scourge of the South Sea trade; Captain 
William Death, wolf of the ocean; and of many others. 

A — 4 


BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


FAMOUS SCOUTS. By Charles H. L. Johnston. 

Large 12mo, illustrated $1.50 

Mr. Johnston gives us historical facts and biographical 
sketches and interesting anecdotes of those heroes of early 
pioneer days who made names for themselves among the 
hardy adventurers who thronged the border. There are 
tales of Gen. Israel Putnam; the celebrated Daniel Boone; 
Kit Carson, the noted scout; Lewis and Clarke, the hardy 
explorers; the world-renowned Buffalo Bill, and of many 
other famous scouts, trappers and pioneers. 
BEAUTIFUL JOE’S PARADISE: Or, The 
Island of Brotherly Love . A sequel to ‘ ‘ Beautiful Joe . ” 
By Marshall Saunders, author of “ Beautiful Joe.” 
One vol., library 12mo, cloth, illustrated . . $1.50 

“ This book revives the spirit of ‘ Beautiful Joe * capi- 
tally. It is fairly riotous with fun, and is about as unusual 
as anything in the animal book line that has seen the 
light.” — Philadelphia Item . 

’TILDA JANE. By Marshall Saunders. 

One vol., 12mo, fully illustrated, cloth decorative, $1.50 
“ I cannot think of any better book for children than 
this. I commend it unreservedly.” — Cyrus Townsend 
Brady . 

’TILDA JANE’S ORPHANS. A sequel to - ’Tilda 
Jane.” By Marshall Saunders. 

One vol., 12mo, fully illustrated, cloth decorative, $1.50 
’Tilda Jane is the same original, delightful girl, and as 
fond of her animal pets as ever. 

THE STORY OF THE GRAVELE YS. By Mar- 
shall Saunders, author of “ Beautiful Joe’s Para- 
dise,” “ ’Tilda Jane,” etc. 

Library 12mo, cloth decorative. Illustrated by E. B. 

Barry $1.50 

Here we have the haps and mishaps, the trials and 
triumphs, of a delightful New England family, of whose 
devotion and sturdiness it will do the reader good to hear. 
BORN TO THE BLUE. By Florence Kimball 
Russel. 

12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.25 

The atmosphere of army life on the plains breathes on 
every page of this delightful tale. The boy is the son of a 
captain of U. S. cavalry stationed at a frontier post in the 
days when our regulars earned the gratitude of a nation 
A — 5 


L. C. PAGE & COMPANY'S 


IN WEST POINT GRAY 

By Florence Kimball Russel. 

12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . SI. 50 

“ Singularly enough one of the best books of the year 
for boys is written by a woman and deals with life at West 
Point. The presentment of life in the famous military 
academy whence so many heroes have graduated is realistic 
and enjoyable .” — New York Sun. 

THE SANDMAN: HIS FARM STORIES 

By William J. Hopkins. With fifty illustrations by 
Ada Clendenin Williamson. 

Large 12mo, decorative cover .... $1.50 

“ An amusing, original book, written for the benefit of 
very small children. It should be one of the most popular 
of the year’s books for reading to small children.” — 
Buffalo Express. 

THE SANDMAN: MORE FARM STORIES 

By William J. Hopkins. 

Large 12mo, decorative cover, fully illustrated $1.50 
Mr. Hopkins’s first essay at bedtime stories met with 
such approval that this second book of “ Sandman ” tales 
was issued for scores of eager children. Life on the farm, 
and out-of-doors, is portrayed in his inimitable manner. 

THE SANDMAN: HIS SHIP STORIES 

By William J. Hopkins, author of “The Sandman: 
His Farm Stories,” etc. 

Large 12mo, decorative cover, fully illustrated $1.50 
“ Children call for these stories over and over again.” — 
Chicago Evening Post. 

THE SANDMAN: HIS SEA STORIES 

By William J. Hopkins. 

Large 12mo, decorative cover, fully illustrated $1.50 
Each year adds to the popularity of this unique series 
of stories to be read to the little ones at bed time and at 
other times. 

A — 6 


BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


A TEXAS BLUE BONNET 

By Emilia Elliott. 

12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50 

This is the story of a warm-hearted, impulsive and breezy 
girl of the Southwest, who has lived all her life on a big 
ranch. She comes to the far East for a long visit, and her 
experiences “ up North ” are indeed delightful reading. 
Blue Bonnet is sure to win the hearts of all girl readers. 

THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL 

By Marion Ames Taggart. 

One vol., library 12mo, illustrated . . $1.50 

A thoroughly enjoyable tale of a little girl and her com- 
rade father, written in a delightful vein of sympathetic 
comprehension of the child’s point of view. 

SWEET NANCY 

The Further Adventures of the Doctor’s Little 
Girl. By Marion Ames Taggart. 

One vol., library 12mo, illustrated . . $1.50 

In the new book, the author tells how Nancy becomes 
in fact “ the doctor’s assistant,” and continues to shed 
happiness around her. 

NANCY, THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE PART- 
NER 

By Marion Ames Taggart. 

One vol., library 12mo, illustrated . . $1.50 

In Nancy Porter, Miss Taggart has created one of the 
most lovable child characters in recent years. In the 
new story she is the same bright and cheerful little maid. 

ALYS- ALL -ALONE 

By Una Macdonald. 

Library 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . $1.50 

A delightful, well-written, happy-ending story which 
will gladden the hearts of many a reader. Though dearly 
loved above all else, a little girl, Alys, must be left some- 
what alone. Indeed she feels and calls herself “Alys-All- 
Alone.” The story closes with the little girl happily estab- 
lished in a real home — no longer “ Alys-All-Alone.” 

A— 7 


L. C. PAGE &° COMPANY'S 


GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 


By Evaleen Stein. 

Small quarto, cloth decorative, illustrated and deco- 
rated in colors by Adelaide Everhart . . . $1.00 

Gabriel was a loving, patient, little French lad, who 
assisted the monks in the long ago days, when all the books 
were written and illuminated by hand, in the monasteries. 

A LITTLE SHEPHERD OF PROVENCE 

By Evaleen Stein. 

Small quarto, cloth decorative, illustrated in colors by 

Diantha Horne Marlowe $1.00 

This is the story of Little lame Jean, a goatherd of 
Provence, and of the “ golden goat ” who is supposed 
to guard a hidden treasure. 


THE STORY OF RAOUL 


” ^valeen Stein. 



Cloth, 12mo, illustrated and decorated in colors $1.25 
This is the story of a lad of noble birth, who, though kid- 
napped by an uncle who had long been an enemy to the 
house of Raoul, succeeds by his very kindness and lovable 
nature in winning the affections of the old man. 


THE CHRISTMAS MAKERS’ CLUB 


By Edith A. Sawyer. 

Cloth decorative, illustrated by Ada C. Williamson $1.50 
One of the best books for girls that has been published 
for a long time. It abounds in merrymaking and the right 
kind of fun, and possesses a gentle humor and pathos 
which will touch the hearts of mothers as well as their 
daughters. 


ELSA’S GIFT HOME 


By Edith A. Sawyer. 

Cloth decorative, illustrated by Florence E. Nos- 


worthy 


$1.50 


A delightful and sunshiny story which tells more about 
the dainty Elsa Danforth and her girl chums. How genial 
Uncle Ned’s Christmas gift brought joy not only to Elsa 
and the “ Christmas Club,” but to many others, is the 
happy theme for a whole-spirited book for girls. 


A — 8 


BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


THE YOUNG SECTION-HAND; Or, The Ad- 
ventures of Allan West. By Burton E. Stevenson. 
Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . $1.50 

Mr. Stevenson’s hero is a manly lad of sixteen, who is 
given a chance as a section-hand on a big Western rail- 
road, and whose experiences are as real as they are thrilling. 

THE YOUNG TRAIN DISPATCHER. By Bur- 
ton E. Stevenson. 

Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . $1.50 

“ A better book for boys has never left an American 
press.” — Springfield Union. 

THE YOUNG TRAIN MASTER. By Burton E. 
Stevenson. 

Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . $1.50 

“ Nothing better in the way of a book of adventure for 
boys in which the actualities of life are set forth in a practi- 
cal way could be devised or written .” — Boston Herald. 

CAPTAIN JACK LO RIMER. By Winn Standish. 

Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated $1.50 

Jack is a fine example of the all-around American higb- 
school boy. 

JACK LORIMER’S CHAMPIONS ; Or, SportV 
on Land and Lake. By Winn Standish. 

Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated $1.5(f 

“It is exactly the sort of book to give a boy interested 
in athletics, for it shows him what it means to always 
* play fair.’ ” — Chicago Tribune. 

JACK LORIMER’S HOLIDAYS J Or, Millvale 
High in Camp. By Winn Standish. 

Illustrated $1.50 

Full of just the kind of fun, sports and adventure to 
excite the healthy minded youngster to emulation. 

JACK LORIMER’S SUBSTITUTE; Or, The Act- 
ing Captain of the Team. By Winn Standish. 

Illustrated $1.50 

On the sporting side, this book takes up football, wres- 

tling, tobogganing, but it is more of a school story perhaps 
than any of its predecessors. 

4—9 


L. C. PAGE <Sr» COMPANY'S 


THE RED FEATHERS. By G. E. T. Roberts. 
Cloth decorative, illustrated . . $1.50 

“ The Red Feathers ” tells of the remarkable adventures 
of an Indian boy who lived in the Stone Age, many years 
ago, when the world was young. 

FLYING PLOVER. By G. E. Theodore Roberts. 
Cloth decorative. Illustrated by Charles Livingston 

Bull $1.00 

Squat-By-The-Fire is a very old and wise Indian who 
lives alone with her grandson, “ Flying Plover,” to whom 
she tells the stories each evening. 

COMRADES OF THE TRAILS. By G. E. 

Theodore Roberts. 

Cloth decorative. Illustrated by Charles Livingston 

Bull $1.50 

The story of a fearless 
who, after the death of 
takes up the life of a hunter in the Canadian forests. 

MARCHING WITH MORGAN. How Donald 

Lovell Became a Soldier of the Revolution. 

By John V. Lane. 

Cloth decorative, illustrated . . . . $1.50 

This is a splendid boy’s story of the expedition of 
Montgomery and Arnold against Quebec. 

RODNEY, THE RANGER Or, With Daniel 
Morgan on Trail and Battlefield. By John V. 
Lane. 

Cloth decorative, illustrated . . $1.50 

Young Rodney Allison, although but fifteen years of 
age, played a man’s part in the troublous times pre- 
ceding the American Revolution and in the War itself. 

CHINESE PLAYMATES 

By Norman H. Pitman. 

Small cloth 12mo, illustrated . $1.00 

A worth-while, happy little story about two little 
Chinese boys, Lo-Lo and Ta-Ta, and the strange fortunes 
that befell them when they wandered from home. 

A— 10 


young English lad, Dick Ramsey, 
his father, crosses the seas and 


BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


COSY CORNER SERIES 

It is the intention of the publishers that this series shall 
contain only the very highest and purest literature, — 
stories that shall not only appeal to the children them- 
selves, but be appreciated by all those who feel with 
them in their joys and sorrows. 

The numerous illustrations in each book are by well- 
known artists, and each volume has a separate attract- 
ive cover design. 

Each 1 vol., 16mo, cloth §0.50 

By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON 

THE LITTLE COLONEL (Trade Mark.) 

The scene of this story is laid in Kentucky. Its hero- 
ine is a small girl, who is known as the Little Colonel, 
on account of her fancied resemblance to an old-school 
Southern gentleman, whose fine estate and old family 
are famous in the region. 

THE GIANT SCISSORS 

This is the story of Joyce and of her adventures in 
France. Joyce is a great friend of the Little Colonel, 
and in later volumes shares with her the delightful ex- 
periences of the “ House Party ” and the 11 Holidays.” 

TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS OF KENTUCKY 

Who Were the Little Colonel’s Neighbors. 

In this volume the Little Colonel returns to us like an 
old friend, but with added grace and charm. She is not, 
however, the central figure of the story, that place being 
taken by the “ two little knights.” 

MILDRED’S INHERITANCE 

A delightful little story of a lonely English girl who 
comes to America and is befriended by a sympathetic 
American family who are attracted by her beautiful 
speaking voice. By means of this one gift she is en- 
abled to help a school-girl who has temporarily lost the 
use of her eyes, and thus finally her life becomes a busy, 
Luppy one. 

A— 11 


L. C. PAGE & COMPANY'S 


By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON ( Continued ) 

CICELY AND OTHER STORIES FOR GIRLS 

The readers of Mrs. Johnston’s charming juveniles 
will be glad to learn of the issue of this volume for young 
people. 

AUNT ’LIZA’S HERO AND OTHER STORIES 

A collection of six bright little stories, which will appeal 
to all boys and most girls. 

BIG BROTHER 

A story of two boys. The devotion and care of Stephen, 
himself a small boy, for his baby brother, is the theme of 
the simple tale. 

OLE MAMMY’S TORMENT 

“ Ole Mammy’s Torment ” has been fitly called “ a 
classic of Southern life.” It relates the haps and mis- 
haps of a small negro lad, and tells how he was led by 
love and kindness to a knowledge of the right. 

THE STORY OF DAGO 

In this story Mrs. Johnston relates the story of Dago, 
a pet monkey, owned jointly by two brothers. Dago 
tells his own story, and the account of his haps and mis- 
haps is both interesting and amusing. 

THE QUILT THAT JACK BUILT 

A pleasant little story of a boy’s labor of love, and how 
it changed the course of his life many years after it wai- 
accomplished 

FLIP’S ISLANDS OF PROVIDENCE 

A story of a boy’s life battle, his early defeat, and hi«. 
final triumph, well worth the reading. 

A — 12 


BOOK'S FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


By EDITH ROBINSON 

A LITTLE PURITAN’S FIRST CHRISTMAS 

A story of Colonial times in Boston, telling how Christ- 
mas was invented bv Betty iSewall, a typical child of the 
Puritans, aided by her brother Sam. 

A LITTLE DAUGHTER OF LIBERTY 

The author introduces this story as follows: 

“ One ride is memorable in the early history of the 
American Revolution, the well-know^ ride of Paul 
Revere. Equally deserving of commendation is another 
ride, — the ride of Anthony Severn, ■ — which was no less 
historic in its action or memorable in its consequences.” 

A LOYAL LITTLE MAID 

A delightful and interesting story of Revolutionary 
days, in which the child heroine, Betsey Schuyler, renders 
important services to George Washington. 

A LITTLE PURITAN REBEL 

This is an historical tale of a real girl, during the time 
when the gallant Sir Harry Vane was governor of Massa- 
chusetts. 

A LITTLE PURITAN PIONEER 

The scene of this story is laid in the Puritan settlement 
at Charlestown. 

A LITTLE PURITAN BOUND GIRL 

A story of Boston in Puritan days, which is of great 
interest to youthful readers. 

A LITTLE PURITAN CAVALIER 

The story of a “ Little Puritan Cavalier ” who tried 
with all his boyish enthusiasm to emulate the spirit and 
ideals of the dead Crusaders. 

A PURITAN KNIGHT ERRANT 

The story tells of a young lad in Colonial times who 
endeavored to carry out the high ideals of the knights 
of olden days. 

A — 13 


L. C. PAGE & COMPANY'S 


By 0U1DA {Louise de la Rarnee ) 

A DOG OF FLANDERS 

A Christmas Story 

Too well and favorably known to require description. 

THE NURNBERG STOVE 

This beautiful story has never before been published 
at a popular price. 

By FRANCES MARGARET FOX 

THE LITTLE GIANT’S NEIGHBOURS 

A charming nature story of a “little giant” whot- 
neighbors were the creatures of the field and garden. 

FARMER BROWN AND THE BIRDS 

A little story which teaches children that the birds are 
man's best friends. 

BETTY OF OLD MACKINAW 

A charming story of child life. 

BROTHER BILLY 

The story of Betty’s brother, and some further adven- 
tures of Betty herself. 

MOTHER NATURE’S LITTLE ONES 

Curious little sketches d scribing the early lifetime, l<i 
“ childhood,” of the little creatures out-of-doors. 

HOW CHRISTMAS CAME TO THE MUL- 
VANEYS 

A bright, lifelike little story of a family of poor children 
with an unlimited capacity for fun and mischief. 

THE COUNTRY CHRISTMAS 

Miss Fox has vividly described the happy surprises that 
made the occasion so memorable to the Mulvaneys, and 
the funny things the children did in their new en v’ iron- 
men t. 

A- 14 


BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


By MISS MU LOCK 

THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE 

A delightful story of a little boy who has many ad- 
ventures by means of the magic gifts of his fairy god- 
mother. 

ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 

The story of a household elf who torments the cook 
and gardener, but is a constant joy and delight to the 
children who love and trust him. 

HIS LITTLE MOTHER 

Miss Mulock’s short stories for children are a constant 
source of delight to them, and “ His Little Mother,” in 
this new and attractive dress, will be welcomed by hosts 
of youthful readers. 

LITTLE SUNSHINE’S HOLIDAY 

An attractive story of a summer outing. “ Little Sun- 
shine ” is another of those beautiful child-characters for 
which Miss Mulock is so justly famous. 

By MARSHALL SAUNDERS 

FOR HIS COUNTRY 

A sweet and graceful story of a little bov who loved 
his country; written with that charm which has endeared 
Miss Saunders to hosts of readers. 

NITA, THE STORY OF AN IRISH SETTER 

In this touching little book, Miss Saunders shows how 
dear to her heart are all of God’s dumb creatures. 

ALPATOK, THE STORY OF AN ESKIMO DOG 

Alpatok, an Eskimo dog from the far north, was stolen 
from his master and left to starve in a strange city, but 
was befriended and cared for, until he wr s able to return 
to his owner. 

A — IS 


Z. C. PAGE COMPANY'S 


By WILL ALLEN DROMGOOLE 

THE FARRIER’S DOG AND HIS FELLOW 

This story, written by tlie gifted young Southern 
woman, will appeal to all that is best in the natures of 
the many admirers of her graceful and piquant style. 

THE FORTUNES OF THE FELLOW 

Those who read and enjoyed the pathos and charm 
of “ The Farrier’s Dog and His Fellow ” will welcome 
the further account of the adventures of Baydaw and 
the Fellow at the home of the kindly smith. 

THE BEST OF FRIENDS 

This continues the experiences of the Farrier’s dog 
and his Fellow, written in Mr. Dromgoole : s well-known 
charming style. 

DOWN IN DIXIE 

A fascinating story for boys and girls, of a family of 
Alabama children who move to Florida and grow up in 
the South. 

By MARIAN W. WILDMAN 

LOYALTY ISLAND 

An account of the adventures of four children and 
their pet dog on an island, and how they cleared their 
brother from the suspicion of dishonesty. 

THEODORE AND THEODORA 

This is a story of the exploits and mishaps of two mis- 
chievous twins, and continues the adventures of th® 
interesting group of children in “ Loyalty Island.” 

A— 16 


BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


By CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS 

THE CRUISE OF THE YACHT DIDO 

The story of two boys who turned their yacht into a 
fishing boat to earn money. 

THE YOUNG ACADIAN 

The story of a young lad of Acadia who rescued a little 
English girl from the hands of savages. 

THE LORD OF THE AIR 

The Story of the Eagle. 

THE KING OF THE MAMOZEKEL 

The Story of the Moose. 

THE WATCHERS OF THE CAMP-FIRE 

The Story of the Panther. 

THE HAUNTER OF THE PINE GLOOM 

The Story of the Lynx. 

THE RETURN TO THE TRAILS 

The Story of the Bear. 

THE LITTLE PEOPLE OF THE SYCAMORE 

The Story of the Raccoon. 

By JULIANA HORATIO EWING 

STORY OF A SHORT LIFE 

This beautiful and pathetic story will never grow old. 
It is a part of the world’s literature, and will never die. 

JACKANAPES 

A new edition, with new illustrations, of this exquisite 
and touching story, dear alike to young and old. 

A GREAT EMERGENCY 

A bright little story of a happy, mischievous family 
of children. 

A- 17 


Z. C. PAGE & COMPANY'S 


By OTHER AUTHORS 

THE GREAT SCOOP 

By MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL 
A capital tale of newspaper life in a big city, and of a 
bright, enterprising, likable youngster employed thereon, 

JOHN WHOPPER 

By BISHOP CLARK 

The late Bishop Clark’s popular story of the boy who 
fell through the earth and came out in China, with a new 
introduction by Bishop Potter. 

RAB AND HIS FRIENDS 

By DR. JOHN BROWN 

Doctor Brown’s little masterpiece is too well known 
to need description. The dog Rab is already known and 
loved by all. 

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY : A Modern Version. 

By MARTHA B. DUNN 

This charming story of a little fishermaid of Maine, 
intellectually “ asleep ” until she meets the “ Fairy 
Prince,” reminds us of “ Ouida ” at her best. 

SUSANNE 

By FRANCES J. DELANO 
Susanne is a story of a motherless little girl with a won- 
derful voice who is taken to the city to be educated by a 
rich aunt, but runs away from the city and returns home. 

A CHILD’S DREAM OF A STAR 

By CHARLES DICKENS 

One of those beautiful, fanciful little allegories which 
Dickens alone knew how to write. 

A— 18 


BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


THE DOLE TWINS 

By Kate Upson Clark. 

The adventures of two little people who tried to earn 
money to buy crutches for a lame aunt. An excellent 
description of child-life about 1812. 

LARRY HUDSONS AMBITION 

By James Otis, author of “ Tobey Tyler,” etc. 

Larry Hudson is a typical American boy, whose hard 
work and enterprise gain him his ambition, — an educa- 
tion and a start in the world. 

THE LITTLE CHRISTMAS SHOE 

By Jane P. Scott Woodruff. 

A touching story of Yule-tide. 

WEE DOROTHY 

By Laura Updegraff. 

A story of two orphan children, the tender devotion 
of the eldest, a boy, for his sister being its theme and 
setting. 

THE KING OF THE GOLDEN RIVER 

A Legend of Stiria. 

By John Ruskin. 

Written fifty years or more ago, and not originally 
intended for publication, this little fairy-tale soon be- 
came known and made a place for itself. 

A CHILDS GARDEN OF VERSES 

By R. L. Stevenson. 

Mr. Stevenson’s little volume is too well known to need 
description. 

JOE, THE CIRCUS BOY 

By Alice E. Allen. 

A tender little story about an orphan boy, who had 
spent his young life as helper with an itinerary circus, 
and of the good fortune that befell him through his devo- 
tion to the trick dog of the circus, Fritz, whom he had 
helped to train. 

A— 19 


THE LITTLE COUSIN SERIES 

The most delightful and interesting accounts possible 
of child life in other lands. 

Each one vol., 12mo, decorative cover, cloth, with full- 
page illustrations in color. Price per volume . . . SO. 60 

By MARY HAZELTON WADE unless otherwise indicated 


Our Little African Cousin 
Our Little Alaskan Cousin 
By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet 
Our Little Arabian Cousin 
By Blanche McManus 
Our Little Argentine Cousin 
By Eva Cannon Brooks 
Our Little Armenian Cousin 
Our Little Australian Cousin 
By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet 
Our Little Belgian Cousin 
By Blanche McManus 
Our Little Bohemian Cousin 
By Clara V. Winlow 
Our Little Brazilian Cousin 
By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet 
Our Little Brown Cousin 
Our Little Canadian Cousin 
By Elizabeth R. Macdonald 
Our Little Chinese Cousin 
By Isaac Taylor Headland 
Our Little Cuban Cousin 
Our Little Dutch Cousin 
By Blanche McManus 
Our Little Egyptian Cousin 
By Blanche McManus 
Our Little English Cousin 
By Blanche McManus 
Our Little Eskimo Cousin 
Our Little French Cousin 
By Blanche McManus 
Our Little German Cousin 
Our Little Grecian Cousin 
By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet 
A— 20 


Our Little Hawaiian Cousin 
Our Little Hindu Cousin 

By Blanche McManus 
Our Little Hungarian Cousin 
By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet 
Our Little Indian Cousin 
Our Little Irish Cousin 
Our Little Italian Cousin 
Our Little Japanese Cousin 
Our Little Jewish Cousin 
Our Little Korean Cousin 

By H. Lee M. Pike 
Our Little Mexican Cousin 

By Edward C. Butler 
Our Little Norwegian Cousin 
Our Little Panama Cousin 

By H. Lee M. Pike 
Our Little Persian Cousin 

By E. C. Shedd 
Our Little Philippine Cousin 
Our Little Porto Rican Cousin 
Our Little Portuguese Cousin 
By Edith A. Sawyer 
Our Little Russian Cousin 
Our Little Scotch Cousin 

By Blanche McManus 
Our Little Siamese Cousin 
Our Little Spanish Cousin 
By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet 
Our Little Swedish Cousin 

By Claire M. Coburn 
Our Little Swiss Cousin 
Our Little Turkish Cousin 



JUU Its 191 1 






One copy del. to Cat. Div. 

IU | 1911 




